Novak Djokovic Tops The List Of World's Highest Paid Tennis Players

Novak Djokovic Tops The List Of World’s Highest Paid Tennis Players

Novak Djokovic is the new champion of Forbes’ annual tennis earnings list, hauling in an estimated $38.4 million (before taxes and agents’ fees) over the past 12 months. No other active player can match his total on the court ($13.4 million from prize money) or off the court (an estimated $25 million from endorsement deals, appearance fees, and licensing and memorabilia income). But Carlos Alcaraz, who outlasted Djokovic in an epic Wimbledon final in July to claim his second Grand Slam title, is not far behind by either measure.

The 20-year-old Spanish phenom raked in $31.4 million over the past 12 months, including $11.4 million on the court and an estimated $20 million off it, to land at No. 2.

That is a big raise from last year, when Alcaraz made his debut on the list at No. 10 with an estimated total of $10.9 million—and then won the U.S. Open the following month. In the women’s game, Iga Swiatek, who has also won two Grand Slams in the past year, made a similar jump, from outside the top ten all the way to No. 3 this year, with an estimated $22.4 million in earnings. She is joined by three other first-timers: Coco Gauff (No. 7, $15.2 million), Casper Ruud (No. 8, $14.4 million) and Jessica Pegula (No. 10, $10.9 million).

Like Federer, 41-year-old Serena Williams was deemed ineligible for this year’s ranking after her apparent retirement last year, and her 43-year-old sister, Venus Williams, falls out of the top ten, along with 33-year-old Kei Nishikori. The reshuffling drops the average age of the top ten below 26, from over 31 in 2022.

The new faces also push the number of women in the top ten up to five, from four last year, matching the highest total in the 16-year history of the ranking. That is no small feat. Female players generally have fewer and less lucrative marketing opportunities available to them, and while men and women receive equal prize money at the sport’s four Grand Slam events, there are still some pay disparities at smaller tournaments. For instance, this month’s Western & Southern Open outside Cincinnati featured a prize pool of $6.6 million for the men, with Djokovic taking home $1,019,335 as the singles champion; the women, meanwhile, played for $2.8 million, with Gauff receiving $454,500 for her singles title.

In total, the ten highest-paid players amassed $196 million over the past 12 months. That figure represents a 38% drop from last year’s $316 million total—and a 43% decline from 2020’s record $343 million—but the loss of Federer and Williams, with a combined $125 million in earnings on the 2022 list, accounts for most of the difference. And with eight of this year’s top ten still under 30, this group of rising tennis stars is just getting started.