Sports are probably one of the most exciting and universal activity that gathers millions of people around the world. Some sports are more niche than others and a few have international super stars who become true icons to the young and less young generations. They provide amazing scenes and can even makes your heart beat stronger when an edgy situation is happening: a world soccer finals, the Super bowl last game, Wimbledon finals or sometimes just an amazing shot or pass during a national championship game. These amazing sports players provide entertainment, passion and inspiration for the sport, and potentially strong emotions. Some of them are very well paid to do that. Tournaments have been increasing the prize money constantly in order to attract more and more key sportsmen to participate to their event. If we take for example the French Tennis open Roland Garros: in 2015, the French tennis open paid a total of €28 Million overall. This is +12% increase compared to the previous year. If we take the winner of the tournament, Stan Wawrinka and Selena Williams won a €1.8Million each. Some players have won true fortunes over the years. Here is the top 10 tennis players with the biggest earnings in there careers. The following amounts do not consider sponsoring deals, just prize money from tournaments since the beginning of their Pro careers.
#1 – Novak Djokovic – $98,199,548
Novak Djokovic is the current number 1 in tennis. He is coached by former Slovak tennis player Marián Vajda and former German tennis player and six-time Grand Slam champion Boris Becker. Djokovic has won 11 Grand Slam singles titles, a total which is ranked fourth in the Open Era tied with Björn Borg, and has held the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings for a total of 194 weeks. By winning three Grand Slam titles in 2011, Djokovic became the sixth male player to win three majors in a calendar year. He repeated this achievement in 2015. In majors, Djokovic has won an all-time record six Australian Open titles (tied with Roy Emerson), including an open era record of three consecutive titles from 2011–2013 (the first and only player to achieve this). He has also won three Wimbledon titles and two US Open titles. With more than $ 98 million, Novak Djokovic is the tennis player in history with the biggest earning in tournaments ever.
#2- Roger Federer – $97’855’881
Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). His accomplishments in professional tennis cause him to be regarded by many as the greatest tennis player of all time. Federer turned professional in 1998 and has been continuously ranked in the top 10 since October 2002. Federer holds several records of the Open Era: holding the world No. 1 position for 302 weeks (including 237 consecutive weeks); winning 17 Grand Slam singles titles; reaching each Grand Slam final at least five times (an all-time record); and reaching the Wimbledon final ten times. He is among the seven men (and among the four in Open Era) to capture a career Grand Slam. Federer shares an Open Era record for most titles at Wimbledon with Pete Sampras and at the US Open with Jimmy Connors and Sampras.
#3- Rafael Nadal – $76’408’882
Rafael Nadal is a Spanish professional tennis player currently ranked world No. 5. He is widely regarded as the greatest clay-court player in history, due to his dominance and success on the surface, he has been titled “The King of Clay”. Nadal has won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, 27 titles in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, and 16 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments. He was also a member of the winning Spain Davis Cup team in 2004, 2008, 2009, and 2011. In 2010, he became the seventh player in history and youngest of four in the Open Era to achieve the Career Grand Slam at age 24. He is the second male player, after Andre Agassi, to complete the singles Career Golden Slam.
#4- Andy Murray – $43’609’616
Andy Murray is a Scottish professional tennis player, currently ranked Singles World No. 2. He is a two-time Grand Slam winner, Olympic champion and Davis Cup champion. Murray is the younger brother of Doubles World No. 1 Jamie Murray. Murray has reached at least the quarter-finals of all Grand Slam tournaments he has participated in since 2011, with the exception of the 2015 US Open. Murray has been ranked as British No. 1 since 27 February 2006. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the ATP for the first time on 16 April 2007, and reached a career peak of world No. 2 on 17 August 2009. He is the reigning Olympic champion, having defeated Roger Federer at the 2012 Olympic Games in straight sets to win the gold medal in the men’s singles final, becoming the first British singles champion in over 100 years. He also won a silver medal in the mixed doubles, playing with Laura Robson. At the 2012 US Open, Murray became the first British player since 1977, and the first British man since 1936, to win a Grand Slam singles tournament, when he defeated Novak Djokovic in the final in five sets. This title made him the only British male to become a Grand Slam singles champion during the Open Era.
#5- Pete Sampras – $43’280’489
Pete Sampras is a retired American tennis player and former world No. 1 regarded as being one of the greatest players in tennis history. He debuted on the professional tour in 1988 and finished his career at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating rival Andre Agassi in the final. He was particularly esteemed for his precise serve, earning the nickname “Pistol Pete”. Sampras became the first professional to break Roy Emerson’s pre-Open Era record of 12 Grand Slam singles titles and retired with 14 titles (seven Wimbledon, five US Open, two Australian Open), though this is no longer the record. He also won seven elite indoor titles (five ATP World Tour Finals and two Grand Slam Cups) and still holds the ATP record of six year-end No. 1 rankings, which were in consecutive years from 1993 through 1998.
As we can see, these amazing Tennis players are great achievers and their talent shows how strong they are and each of them would deserve the title of Best Tennis Player of all times. They have all earned amazing victories that brought a lot of money. Obviously, what motivate them to pursuit is above all the love of Tennis. We are happy to see that such talents can live from their sport and keep creating amazing passionate moments. The earnings present in this article is based on what they have won during tournaments. Of course each of these fabulous Tennis Players have also sponsoring deals that would increase even more their wealth. According to Forbes, Novak Djokovic would have on top of his Prize money, around $31 Million from his different sponsors. A last interesting fact is that in this top 5 only Pete Sampras is part of the previous generation. We can see that there is today a higher dynamics in terms of tournaments and prize money than in the past.
José Amorim
Info sourced at ATPWorldtour.com and wikipedia. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images are for illustration purposes only.
