United States tennis player Sachia Vickery has opened up about joining subscription platform OnlyFans, saying the move was driven by financial struggles and injuries that stalled her career.
The 30-year-old, once ranked world No. 73 in 2018, said she never imagined turning to the platform when she started her journey in professional tennis.
“When I was younger dreaming about being a professional tennis player, it’s not something you think you’ll ever do,” Vickery said in an interview. “But having a security blanket, something to do on the side and make good money from, doesn’t hurt. It’s given me a lot of financial freedom, even helping me fund my entire tennis career.”
Vickery has been sidelined by a shoulder injury for six months and is now ranked outside the top 500. She explained that despite having earned about $2.1 million in career prize money, most of it was spent on essentials like coaching, travel, fitness, and medical care.
“I can tell you, $2 million is absolutely nothing when it comes to tennis,” she said. “I spent over $100,000 on coaching, fitness, physio, recovery, MRIs — people don’t see that part of it.”
Her introduction to OnlyFans began earlier this year after she collaborated with Australian star Nick Kyrgios for the platform’s TV content. Within three months of creating her own page, she says she earned six figures. “Probably more than what I made at the slams,” she added.
While OnlyFans is widely known for adult content, Vickery insisted her page is not explicit. “I have no sexual content on there. I have no nude content. Obviously, I have lingerie content, I have content where I’m really pushing the boundaries, but I’m never fully naked. I’ve never done sex videos,” she explained.
The Florida-born player also spoke about the stigma that comes with being on the platform. “When they see you have OnlyFans, they automatically connect you with being, like, OK, she’s a porn star,” she said. “People don’t understand there’s a lot of different levels to OnlyFans. I don’t care what people think about me, I have extremely thick skin.”
Vickery revealed that other players struggling financially have asked her about the platform. “We don’t have the luxury of having a safety net or financial freedom if we’re not inside the top 100,” she said. “I have had players ask me curiously, what’s the money on there? Is it worth looking into?”
She called for better pay structures in tennis to support players ranked outside the top 100. “If you don’t want players on OnlyFans, why don’t we set up a system where you actually pay players outside of top 100 what we deserve? If tennis were a sport where players were getting paid what we actually deserve, you wouldn’t have people betting or doing OnlyFans or whatever it is,” she argued.
Vickery, who recently returned to the court at the US Open qualifiers but lost in the second round, said she has no regrets. “If men want to throw money at me, why would I not take it? Wearing a bikini or wearing a swimsuit or working out is what I do all throughout the day. The only difference is, I’m documenting them now. For me, it’s not a big deal,” she said.
When asked if she would continue on the platform after retirement, she said, “Right now, I’d say it’s a definite no. Pornography and sex videos, I don’t think I’d be able to do, but I’d be lying if I say I hadn’t thought about it.”
