Top 5 highest earning tennis stars

Australia’s in the midst of Australian Open fever with the world’s biggest tennis stars in town to play for the grand slam title. While we’re sure they do it for the love of the game there’s also some pretty serious cash to be made in prize money and endorsements for the players (and that’s not including the alleged money coming in from match fixing).

According to Forbes, these were last year’s top 5 highest paid tennis stars of 2015:  

1

Roger Federer: Everyone’s favourite Swiss tops the list with total earnings of $67 million last year made up primarily of some big endorsement deals. Sponsorships from big name brands such as Nike, Rolex and Credit Suisse earned him a total of $58 million with the other $9 million coming from prize money. Currently seeded number 2 in the world 2016 is looking to be just as big with Federer breezing through the first round of the Australian Open.

2

Novak Djokovic: Coming out all guns blazing in his straight set win over Korean Hyeon Chung in the first round of the Australian Open Djokovic is similarly on fire with his sponsorship deals, earning $31 million in 2015. Add to that $17.2 million worth of endorsement money and salary payments and you could say that the Serbian national had an excellent year. Djokovic totalled $48 million in earnings with major sponsors including global clothing giant UNIQLO.   

3

Rafael Nadal: Despite his shock exit from the Australian Open in the first round this year Nadal is on player who will be laughing all the way to the bank. In 2015 he earned $28 million in endorsements and $4.5 million in prize money earning him a nice total of $32.5 million. With new sponsorships rolling in from brands including Tommy Hilfiger the Spaniard looks set to continue his earning streak. 

4

Maria Sharapova: Crowd favourite Maria Sharapova comes in as the first female on the list with a combined total earning of $29.7 million. The 28 year old received $23 million in endorsements and $6.7 million in winnings for the year. Although, while Sharapova represents luxury brands such as Porsche, the Russian national also devotes her time to being a UN Goodwill Ambassador.

5

Serena Williams: Williams has been a fixture of the global tennis world for over 20 years and is still competing at the top level with a great performance in the Australian Open so far. Last year was just as good with a combined total earning of $24.6 million made up of $11.6 million in winnings and $13 million in endorsements. Representing everything from sports brand Nike to beauty giant O.P.I William’s shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.  

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