Like every year, the magazine “Forbes” publishes a list of the highest paid athletes in given disciplines. This time, place in tennis. Combined income from legal and sponsorship contracts is included in the ranking. The leader is Roger Federer. The Swiss received $90 million last year. Federer hardly plays tennis anymore, but earns his lucrative contacts with sponsors.

Highest paid tennis players

The second and third places belong to the women. Behind Federer are Naomi Osaka (56.2 million) and Serena Williams (35.1 million). This shows how strong the position of women’s tennis is compared to the whole discipline, unique compared to other sports competitions. Especially since Osaka and Williams – just like Federer – don’t have the best 12 months of their careers behind them. Nevertheless, they are on the podium thanks to sponsorship agreements.

Rafael Nadal, who won, among other things, last year The Australian Open and Roland Garros are only fourth (31.4 million). Novak Djoković is fifth (27.1) and current ATP leader Danił Medvedev (19.3) is seventh.

Here is the first “10” of the “Forbes” ranking:

1. Roger Federer, 90 years old
2. Naomi Osaka, 56.2
3. Serena Williams, 35.1
4. Rafael Nadal, 31.4
5. Novak Djokovic, 27.1
6. Emma Raducanu, 21.1
7. Daniel Medvedev, 19.3
8. Kei Nishikori, 13.2
9. Venus Williams, 12 years old
10. Carlos Alcaraz, 10.9

Where is Iga Świątek?

The leaders are also, among others, Venus Williams or Emma Raducanu, who are nearing the end of their careers, who continue to disappoint after last year’s success at the US Open. The absence of the leader of the WTA ranking, Iga Świątek, is noticeable in this group. How it is possible?

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The absence of the Pole is due to the fact that her team does not make public the income of the tennis player from sponsorship contracts. That’s how she explained it in an interview with the sports24.pl portal Paulina Wójtowicz, Świątek manager: “Iga’s on-court earnings are made public in WTA sources. As for off-court earnings, they are subject to confidentiality clauses related to sponsorship agreements. I can say that ‘Iga is a tennis player who is highly valued financially by her partners, but you won’t find her in any official rankings, because so far we haven’t disclosed any contract amounts to companies that prepare similar rankings”.

Świątek’s partners are, among others, brands such as: Rolex, PZU, Xiaomi or Tecnifibre. It is possible that the Polish woman with her total earnings is in the top 10 “Forbes”, but this knowledge is protected by the confidentiality clause.

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An impressive result

It is known, however, that in 2022, Iga Świątek earned the most on the court of all tennis players, without a division by gender. $6.64 million has already been transferred to his account. He is ahead of Rafael Nadal (6.42) and Carlos Alcaraz (4.23). This is all the more impressive considering that, apart from Grand Slam tournaments, tennis players generally earn less than tennis players in other events. Despite this, the Polish is in the lead. This year, she has already won six events and has been at the top of the WTA rankings for 21 weeks.