The Highest-Paid Tennis Players Of All Time (His Net Worth Had Fans Shaking Their Heads)
Tennis players have a short shelf life and, therefore, a short opportunity to make big money from playing in tournaments. The best players can ink endorsement deals that could potentially pay them even more than event purses. Many legendary players can also continue to play on the senior tour. Below is a list of the top net worths of the game's best players, past and present. Read on to learn more about the richest tennis players.
Ion Tiriac: $2 Billion
Ion Tiriac was a professional tennis player who achieved a high level of success. As a player, Tiriac won the 1970 French Open alongside fellow Romanian Ilie Nastase.
Following his career, he became heavily involved in the world of business. Tiriac has made his money in a number of ways, including auto sales, retail, insurance, and air travel.
Roger Federer: $550 Million
Roger Federer has won more Grand Slam tournaments than any other male player in tennis history. The titles speak for themselves: six Australian Opens, eight Wimbledon titles, five US Opens, and one French Open.
Federer has a lot to be proud of and led a successful career before retiring from the sport in 2022.
Serena Williams: $300 Million
Serena Williams' list of titles is staggeringly long. She has won each of the four Grand Slams numerous times. Her total of 23 singles Grand Slams adds to her 14 doubles titles. She even added two mixed doubles Grand Slams back in 1998.
After a record-breaking career, Williams announced her retirement from tennis to focus on new projects and her family.
Novak Djokovic: $240 Million
Novak Djokovic turned pro at the age of 16 and has been winning tournaments ever since.
Djokovic has the unfortunate privilege of having to compete against two of the greatest players of all time: Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Still, the Serb has been able to win 24 Grand Slams, including capturing the Australian Open title 10 times.
Rafael Nadal: $220 Million
Rafael Nadal was both promising soccer and tennis player growing up, but he eventually had to move to only playing tennis. The lefthander has racked up a multitude of Grand Slam wins over the course of his career.
The speedy Spaniard dominates at the French Open where he has won an astonishing 14 titles. He's also won the US Open four times, the Australian Open twice, and two Wimbledons.
Maria Sharapova: $180 Million
Maria Sharapova turned pro when she turned 14 years old. At the age of 17, Sharapova captured her first Grand Slam Victory at Wimbledon in 2004. She won each Grand Slam title at least once and won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova retired in 2020 and has continued her interest in fashion and modeling.
Pete Sampras: $150 Million
The right-handed player won his first Grand Slam at the 1990 US Open at just 19 years old. That tournament began an incredible Grand Slam run that saw Pete Sampras win the US Open five times, Wimbledon seven times, and the Australian Open twice.
Incredibly, Sampras was never able to win the French Open, though he was a finalist there in 1996.
Andre Agassi: $145 Million
Agassi won his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon in 1992. The Las Vegas native won the Australian Open 4 times, The French Open once, and the US Open twice.
Once his playing career came to an end, Agassi married tennis legend Steffi Graf. Agassi retired in 2006.
Andy Murray: $100 Million
Andy Murray played almost all of his junior tennis in Scotland and turned professional at the age of 18 in 2005. He spent the early part of his career grinding through tour events and working his way up the ladder.
In the 2010 Australian Open, he made his first Grand Slam final. He then won Slams at the US Open in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016.
John McEnroe: $100 Million
John McEnroe turned pro at the age of 18 and quickly went about making his mark on the tour. McEnroe captured his first Grand Slam in just his second year as a pro, winning the 1979 US Open. He went on to win three more US Opens and three Wimbledon titles.
Known as much for his mouth as for his play, McEnroe is still a well-remembered player 20 years after his retirement.
Venus Williams: $95 Million
When Venus and Serena Williams burst onto the scene in 1994, the pro tennis world had never really seen anything like them.
Venus captured seven Grand Slam singles titles, including five Wimbledons and two US Opens. The Williams sisters were also a force on the doubles scene, taking home an additional 14 Slams. Showing no signs of slowing done, Venus still plays regularly on the tour.
Bjorn Borg: $80 Million
Bjorn Borg came onto the scene like a lightning bolt after turning pro in 1973. Success came fast as he won his first Grand Slam at the 1974 French Open.
Borg also captured six French Opens and five Wimbledon titles over the course of his career. He shockingly retired in 1983 at only 26 years of age.
Li Na: $60 Million
Chinese-born Li Na spent the first eight years of her life playing badminton like her Father, Li Shengpeng. Once she dropped the badminton racquet for a tennis racquet, though, she was a natural.
She turned pro in 1999, and it took her quite a while to achieve significant success. She captured her first Grand Slam title at the 2011 French Open and won another Slam at the 2014 Australian Open.
Anna Kournikova: $60 Million
Born in Russia, tennis prodigy Anna Kournikova moved to Florida to further her game and turned pro at the age of 14.
While she was a good singles player, Kournikova achieved the majority of her success playing doubles. She captured the Australian Open doubles title with Martina Hingis in 1999 and 2002. Injuries forced Kournikova to retire at the age of 21.
Andy Roddick: $40 Million
Andy Roddick was well-known as a promising prospect going back to his early teenage years. The biggest moment in the Omaha-born player's tenure came in 2003 when he won the US Open, his first and only Grand Slam title.
After a Hall of Fame career, Roddick retired from the sport in 2012.
Ivan Lendl: $40 Million
The Czech-American player can claim 94 singles titles, eight major titles, and seven year-end championships.
His aggressive, powerful technique was dubbed the "Lendl style" and changed the way many play tennis. After retiring in 1994, Lendl went on to coach other players, including Andy Murray.
Jimmy Connors: $30 Million
Jimmy Connors is considered by some to be the greatest player in the sport's history. He reached No. 1 nine times during his long and successful career.
Connors' titles include one Australian Open, two Wimbledons, five US Opens, three year-end championships, and 17 Grand Prix Super Series. He's also one of a small group of players who've won the Junior Orange Bowl championship twice. Connors retired in 1996.
Svetlana Kuznetsova: $30 Million
Svetlana Kuznetsova turned pro in 2000 and, by 2007, had risen to the rank of No. 2 in the world, and was only 22 years old. Kuznetsova won US Open twice and the French Open for singles and snagged the Australian Open twice for doubles.
She's still playing professionally, despite a decline in performance in recent years due to lingering injuries.
Steffi Graf: $30 Million
Steffi Graf held the Women's Tennis Association's No. 1 ranking for 377 weeks in a row beginning in August of 1987. That's a record that no player has topped since.
In addition, she won six French Open singles titles, seven Wimbledon singles titles, five U.S. Open singles titles, and four Australian Open titles.
Agnieszka Radwanska: $25 Million
Agnieszka Radwanska turned professional in April 2005. The Pole played a lot of tennis in her career and finished up with a career record of 594-265.
Radwanska has had tremendous success in her career though she never did capture a Grand Slam in single play. However, on the tour, she became the 7th all-time in earnings for a female player.
Martina Navratilova: $25 Million
Hailing from Czechoslovakia, Marina Navratilova won the country's national championship when she was just 15 years old. She went pro in 1975. Navratilova is the only player in history who has held the top spots in both singles and doubles tennis for over 200 weeks.
Navratilova has had a career full of impressive wins. She retired in 2006 with a net worth estimated at $25 million.
Rod Laver: $20 Million
Australian Rod Laver holds the record for the most singles titles in tennis history, with 200. One of Laver's unique talents was his ability to play an excellent game on every different court surface: hard, grass, clay, carpet, and parquet.
In 2000, an arena at Melbourne Park, which is where the Australian Open is held, was named the Rod Laver Arena.
Michael Chang: $20 Million
Michael Chang's short stature required him to play a defensive game that relied on his speed and agility.
When he was just 17 he won the 1989 French Open before going on to win 34 top-level professional singles titles. He retired from the professional tour in 2003 but joined Jim Courier's senior tour in 2006.
Billie Jean King: $20 Million
Billie Jean King began her 34-year professional career in 1959. Along the way, she captured 12 Grand Slam singles, including six wins at Wimbledon. King also captured 16 Women's Doubles Grand Slams and 12 Mixed Doubles Grand Slams.
King also struck an incredible win for women's rights when she defeated Bobby Riggs in the so-called Battle of the Sexes.
Bob And Mike Bryan: $18 Million
Twin brothers Robert "Bob" and Michael Bryan have been racking up wins together for years.
The Bryans are just the second men's doubles team ever to complete the career Golden Slam at the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London. They have a combined net worth of an estimated $18 million.
David Ferrer: $16 Million
The three-time Davis Cup champion had quite an impressive professional career and reached #3 in the world rankings.
Ferrer's many wins on the court made him the 7th highest-earning player in the history of tennis (when not counting for inflation). He retired in May 2019.
Ana Ivanovic: $16 Million
Serbian Ana Ivanovic turned pro in 2003 at just 16 years old, and three years later, she made her breakthrough and captured the United States Open Series. She won her only Grand Slam, The French Open, in 2008. Following her win, she became the number one ranked women's tennis player in the world.
Ivanovic retired in 2016. She married German soccer star Bastian Schweinsteiger in the same year, and they have two children together.
Chris Evert: $16 Million
Chris Evert turned pro in 1969 at 15 years old. She was an immediate superstar in the game and won her first Grand Slam, the 1974 French Open, at just 19 years of age.
In total, she won 18 Grand Slams. She was particularly adept at the French Open, which she won 7 times, and the US Open, which she won 6 times.
Marat Safin: $15 Million
Russian Marat Safin is the tallest tennis player ever to reach the No. 1 ranking, a position he achieved in 2000 and held for nine weeks.
He became the first Russian man to reach the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2008 despite his dislike of grass courts and was also the first Russian tennis player to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2016.
Ilie Năstase: $15 Million
Romanian superstar Ilie Năstase is one of only ten elite players in the history of the sport who have won more than 100 ATP professional titles. He also has seven Grand Slam titles, four Masters Grand Prix year-end championship titles, and seven Championship Series titles.
In 1991, Năstase was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991.
Jim Courier: $14 Million
Jim Courier became a professional tennis player in 1988 at 18 years old. He achieved a high level of success, despite competing against players like Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi
Courier won his first Grand Slam by defeating Andre Agassi in the finals of the 1991 French Open. He then won the French Open again in 1992. He also captured two Australian Opens in 1992 and 1993.
Justine Henin: $14 Million
Belgian champ Justine Henin has seven Grand Slam singles titles under her belt. She was ranked No. 1 in the world for an astonishing 117-week run and was also the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006, and 2007.
Henin is a huge success in the sport, largely due to her impressive one-handed backhand, as well as her footspeed and the variety of her game.
Pam Shriver: $12 Million
Pam Shriver hit the professional tennis scene in the late 1970s. She was a master at doubles and earned 111 women's doubles titles during the 1980s and 1990s. She also racked up 21 women's singles titles and scored a women's doubles gold medal with partner Zina Garrison at the 1988 Olympic Games.
Shriver retired in 1997 and has had a lucrative career since leaving the sport professionally.
