The U.S. Open will probably be lacking some acquainted faces, however younger stars are taking their place amongst a high ten who collectively earned $316 million during the last yr.
Novak Djokovic is barred from coming into the U.S. as a result of he has not obtained the Covid-19 vaccine. Roger Federer stays sidelined with a knee damage. Serena Williams will probably be taking part in what is anticipated to be her last Grand Slam, and Rafael Nadal, hampered by an belly damage, is overtly acknowledging that his personal retirement is perhaps imminent.
The U.S. Open, which begins in New York on Monday with $2.6 million to be paid to the singles champions, can now not rely on these 4 stars to gentle up its area yr after yr. However loads of up-and-comers are prepared to switch them in tennis’ firmament—and so they’re already making headway financially.
At age 41, Federer stays the world’s highest-paid tennis participant for the seventeenth straight yr, hauling in an estimated $90 million earlier than taxes and brokers’ charges during the last 12 months regardless of not taking part in a single match, however second place now firmly belongs to 24-year-old Naomi Osaka, who made an estimated $56.2 million this previous yr. She’s adopted within the high 5 by Williams ($35.1 million), Nadal ($31.4 million) and Djokovic ($27.1 million), however arising proper behind them is 19-year-old Emma Raducanu, who makes her debut on Forbes’ tennis earnings leaderboard at No. 6 with $21.1 million. Daniil Medvedev, the 26-year-old Russian who’s the world’s top-ranked males’s participant, collected an estimated $19.3 million to land at No. 7, and Carlos Alcaraz, a 19-year-old from Spain, jumps onto the leaderboard at No. 10 with $10.9 million.
Mixed, tennis’ ten high earners made an estimated $316 million, roughly flat from final yr’s $320 million and down from 2020’s $343 million. However the group’s off-court complete of $285 million from endorsements, appearances and different enterprise endeavors represents an all-time excessive, topping final yr’s $281 million.
The infusion of contemporary blood is nice information for a sport that has been dominated by the identical handful of names for the final 20 years. The 40-year-old Williams, who introduced in an August 9 essay for Vogue that she was making ready to retire, has gained 23 Grand Slam singles titles—a file for tennis’ open period—and has earned greater than $440 million throughout her profession, simply the all-time excessive for a feminine athlete. Her estimated web price of $260 million ranks her ninetieth amongst America’s richest self-made ladies.
On the lads’s facet, the 36-year-old Nadal, winner of this yr’s Australian Open and French Open, has claimed a file 22 Grand Slam singles titles; the 35-year-old Djokovic has 21 after his triumph at Wimbledon final month, and Federer has 20. Throughout the final 76 Slams, relationship to 2003, simply 13 males’s singles titles have been gained by another person. And the three superstars have been simply as daunting off the court docket: Federer is one in every of simply seven athletes who’ve earned at the very least $1 billion earlier than taxes whereas Nadal has made an estimated $500 million and Djokovic greater than $470 million.
Their domination has been so full that tennis pundits communicate of a “misplaced technology”—gamers of their late 20s and early 30s who by no means ascended to the highest of the game as a result of the Massive Three lingered so lengthy. However whether or not it’s as a result of this new crop of gamers is extra proficient or simply that Federer and Nadal are lastly beginning to cede the stage, males’s tennis seems to be poised to enter its subsequent period quickly, with Medvedev and Alcaraz being chased within the earnings race by 23-year-old Casper Ruud (an estimated $10.4 million this previous yr), 24-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas ($8.9 million) and 25-year-old Alexander Zverev ($8.3 million).
THE WORLD’S HIGHEST-PAID TENNIS PLAYERS 2022
#1. $90 mil
Roger Federer
AGE: 41 | NATIONALITY: Switzerland | ON-COURT: $0 • OFF-COURT: $90 mil
Roger Federer stays sports activities’ high pitchman, with an unparalleled $90 million in annual off-court earnings.
Julian Finney/Getty Photos
Federer, who hasn’t performed a aggressive match in practically 14 months, has mentioned he hopes to return to the court docket this fall with a watch on making another run subsequent yr at Wimbledon, the place he’s gained eight of his 20 Grand Slam titles. (A coaching video posted to Instagram on Sunday bought the tennis world speaking.) However even when he’s restricted by accidents, Federer stays sports activities’ high pitchman, with an unparalleled $90 million in annual off-court earnings from sponsors together with Uniqlo, Credit score Suisse and Rolex. He additionally owns important fairness in On, the Swiss working shoe model that went public final September.
#2. $56.2 mil
Naomi Osaka
AGE: 24 | NATIONALITY: Japan | ON-COURT: $1.2 mil • OFF-COURT: $55 mil
Naomi Osaka is a advertising and marketing powerhouse, endorsing practically 20 manufacturers.
Hamish Blair/Related Press
Osaka has been bothered by again, belly and Achilles accidents and has seen her world rating slip to forty fourth. However she’s a advertising and marketing powerhouse, endorsing practically 20 manufacturers, together with latest additions FTX, a cryptocurrency trade, and Fashionable Well being, a psychological well being platform. In Could, Osaka and her longtime agent Stuart Duguid based a sports activities company, Evolve, quickly signing Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios as a consumer. In June, she began a media firm referred to as Hana Kuma in partnership with LeBron James’ SpringHill Firm, and her skincare line Kinlò, launched final September, not too long ago began showing on Walmart cabinets and introduced endorsement offers with 5 faculty athletes.
#3. $35.1 mil
Serena Williams
AGE: 40 | NATIONALITY: U.S. | ON-COURT: $0.1 mil • OFF-COURT: $35 mil
After she retires from tennis, Serena Williams will keep loads busy along with her VC agency, which has investments in additional than 60 startups.
Vaughn Ridley/Getty Photos
Williams’ poignant essay saying her impending retirement acknowledged that this isn’t precisely how she’d prefer to exit—one main title behind Margaret Court docket’s all-time file of 24. However she’s going to keep loads busy along with her agency Serena Ventures, which has investments in additional than 60 startups and introduced an inaugural fund of $111 million in March. Williams, who turns 41 subsequent month, additionally nonetheless has endorsement offers with practically a dozen manufacturers, together with Nike, Gucci and Michelob Extremely, and may count on at the very least a few of them to proceed nicely into her retirement from tennis. As an example, Maria Sharapova—maybe her closest analogue, with $325 million in earnings throughout a tennis profession that resulted in February 2020—continues to advertise Nike, Evian and Porsche.
#4. $31.4 mil
Rafael Nadal
AGE: 36 | NATIONALITY: Spain | ON-COURT: $6.4 mil • OFF-COURT: $25 mil
Rafael Nadal has a gradual secure of company companions that embrace Nike, Kia and Richard Mille watches.
Julian Finney/Getty Photos
Nadal, again on the court docket after taking a break from tennis in 2021 to handle a uncommon foot situation generally known as Müller-Weiss syndrome, will probably be taking part in his first U.S. Open since 2019 and has a gradual secure of company companions that embrace Nike, Kia and Richard Mille watches. His hunt for a calendar-year Grand Slam resulted in July when an belly tear compelled him to withdraw from Wimbledon forward of his semifinal match, however he bought a monetary elevate from his Australian Open and French Open victories—a mixed $4.4 million in prize cash plus bonuses from sponsors. He’s additionally an investor within the restaurant Tatel, which opened a Beverly Hills outpost final September.
#5. $27.1 mil
Novak Djokovic
AGE: 35 | NATIONALITY: Serbia | ON-COURT: $7.1 mil • OFF-COURT: $20 mil
Novak Djokovic counts Asics, Head, Hublot, Lacoste, NetJets and Raiffeisen Financial institution as sponsors.
Simon Bruty Anychance/Getty Photos
Djokovic had a magical 2021, successful the yr’s first three majors and falling simply shy of the calendar-year Slam with a loss within the U.S. Open last. His 2022 has been a bit bumpier, nonetheless. His resolution to forgo the Covid-19 vaccine compelled him to overlook the Australian Open, and he has been taking part in with out patches on his sleeves—profitable actual property for sponsorships—after parting methods with Peugeot and UKG. His vaccination standing additionally required him to withdraw from the U.S. Open warm-up match outdoors Cincinnati this month and seems prone to maintain him out of the primary occasion subsequent week. However Djokovic nonetheless counts Asics, Head, Hublot, Lacoste, NetJets and Raiffeisen Financial institution as sponsors.
#6. $21.1 mil
Emma Raducanu
AGE: 19 | NATIONALITY: Britain | ON-COURT: $3.1 mil • OFF-COURT: $18 mil
Emma Raducanu has signed a slew of endorsement offers since successful the 2021 U.S. Open.
Aaron Doster/Related Press
Raducanu was a digital unknown this time final yr, ranked one hundred and fiftieth on the planet. Then got here her U.S. Open victory at age 18 and a flood of endorsements, with British Airways, Dior, Evian, HSBC, Porsche, Tiffany and Vodafone becoming a member of Nike in her secure. She has struggled to dwell as much as that top commonplace, falling within the second spherical this yr on the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon, however manufacturers are wanting to get in on the bottom ground with a participant they assume could possibly be a star for years.
#7. $19.3 mil
Daniil Medvedev
AGE: 26 | NATIONALITY: Russia | ON-COURT: $7.3 mil • OFF-COURT: $12 mil
Daniil Medvedev is the world’s top-ranked males’s singles participant.
Thomas F Starke/Getty Photos
Medvedev, who beat Novak Djokovic within the U.S. Open last final yr to win his first main, has spent a lot of the yr dueling with the Serbian star for the No. 1 rating. Wimbledon barred Medvedev and different Russian gamers from competing amid the conflict in Ukraine, however a subsequent resolution by the ATP and WTA Excursions to strip the match of rating factors helped him maintain on to the highest spot, with Djokovic now right down to No. 6. All Russian gamers are having to stroll a advertising and marketing tightrope as their nation’s invasion presses on, however Medvedev has held on to all of his companions, together with Lacoste and two additions from final fall, gaming gear model HyperX and Chinese language distillery Guojiao 1573. In Medvedev’s favor: He resides in Monaco, and his solely sponsor based mostly in Russia, Tinkoff Financial institution, has averted Western sanctions.
#8. $13.2 mil
Kei Nishikori
AGE: 32 | NATIONALITY: Japan | ON-COURT: $0.2 mil • OFF-COURT: $13 mil
Kei Nishikori has been a advertising and marketing juggernaut in Japan for years.
Frank Franklin II/Related Press
Nishikori, a 2014 U.S. Open finalist, has been a advertising and marketing juggernaut in Japan during the last a number of years, making $30 million or extra off the court docket every year from 2016 to 2020, based on Forbes estimates. Cracks started to appear final yr, when Forbes listed him at $25 million from endorsements, and accidents have sidelined him since October, along with his world rating right down to 365th. However his endorsement offers with a half-dozen manufacturers, together with Uniqlo, Japan Airways and Airweave mattresses, nonetheless preserve him forward of each males’s tennis participant not named Federer, Nadal or Djokovic on the off-court leaderboard.
#9. $12 mil
Venus Williams
AGE: 42 | NATIONALITY: U.S. | ON-COURT: $0.03 mil • OFF-COURT: $12 mil
Venus Williams has pivoted away from conventional tennis sponsorships in favor of offers that capitalize on her movie star.
Robert Prange/Getty Photos
Williams, who was given a wild-card spot to compete on the U.S. Open, joins her sister Serena amongst tennis’ high earners though she has performed simply three tournaments in singles this yr and sits at No. 1,445 on the planet rankings. That’s the results of a pivot away from conventional tennis sponsorships—which punish gamers who miss tournaments or drop within the rankings—in favor of offers that capitalize on her movie star. Her companions now embrace Blue Cross Blue Protect, medical aesthetic machine producer Venus Idea and self-care model Asutra (the place she serves as chief artistic model officer), plus latest addition Lacoste. Williams additionally has a profitable facet hustle as a speaker, with 30 dates deliberate for this yr, and cofounded Joyful Viking, which makes a meal-replacement shake and introduced a $2 million funding spherical final week.
#10. $10.9 mil
Carlos Alcaraz
AGE: 19 | NATIONALITY: Spain | ON-COURT: $5.9 mil • OFF-COURT: $5 mil
Carlos Alcaraz has shot up the world rankings at age 19.
Adam Fairly/Getty Photos
Alcaraz has rocketed up the world singles rankings this yr to No. 4, from No. 33 in January, changing into the youngest participant within the ATP Tour’s high 5 since Rafael Nadal in 2005. His nationality and his repute on clay courts have prompted additional comparisons to Nadal, who with $6.4 million can be the one males’s participant to have outearned Alcaraz’s $4.8 million on the court docket in 2022. Sponsors, seeing a participant who might dominate for years, have begun to flock to the younger Spaniard, with Rolex, skincare model ISDIN, meat producer ElPozo Alimentación and BMW signing on within the final eight months.
METHODOLOGY
On-court earnings figures replicate prize cash collected during the last 12 months, relationship to the 2021 U.S. Open. Off-court earnings estimates are decided by means of conversations with trade insiders and replicate earnings from endorsements, appearances, licensing and memorabilia, in addition to money returns from any companies operated by the participant. Funding earnings corresponding to curiosity funds or dividends shouldn’t be included, however Forbes does account for payouts from fairness stakes athletes have bought. Forbes doesn’t deduct for taxes or brokers’ charges.
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