Tennis365’s Top 10 ATP prize money earners

The year 2017 has been the year of the comeback for Roger Federer as he not only claimed two Grand Slam titles and moved up the rankings, but also raked in the dough once again as he surpassed Novak Djokovic in the ATP career prize money list.

Besides Federer and Djokovic, who else makes the list?

10. Boris Becker ($25,080,956)

He was in the news this year as he was apparently ready to sell his Wimbledon trophies after being declared bankrupt with debts totalling more than £54million. Becker, though, denied the reports saying “it’s crazy to think I’m broke”.

And for those of us who earn peanuts it is bizarre to think that someone who earned $25,080,956 in prize money during his playing career is bankrupt.

The German makes the top 10 ahead of Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov who “only” made $23,883,797.

9. Thomas Berdych ($28,220,153)
The fact that Berdych makes the top 10 tells you everything you need to know about the amount of money that players earn today when compared to those who played in the 90s, 80s, 70s, etc.

The man from the Czech Republic has won only 2013 ATP singles titles and his best Grand Slam results are three semi-final appearances, yet he has already earned $28m.

8. David Ferrer ($30,796,561)
Ferrer is another peculiar entry and he moved ahead of Sampras.

The man from Spain, who has reached a career-high of three in the world and played in one Grand Slam final, has won 27 ATP singles titles – with the last coming at the Swedish Open in July 2017.

However, he is in the twilight of his career and is unlikely to move up before he retires, which should be any day now due to his ripe old age of 35.

7. Stan Wawrinka ($30,905,144)
With three Grand Slam titles to his name already, Wawrinka slots comfortably into the top 10 as he already has more than $30m in prize money in his bank account.

It hasn’t been that great a year for the Swiss No 2 in terms of on-court performances as he only won one title, the Geneva Open, and was runner-up at the Indian Wells Masters and French Open.

6. Andre Agassi ($31,152,975)

One of tennis’ all-time greats misses out on the top five, but with 60 career singles titles, including eight Grand Slams, to his name it is easy to see why he made the top 10.

Agassi, who retired in 2006, is fifth on the list of most Grand Slam titles won and of course the $31m does not include the sponsorship deals he had throughout his career.

5. Pete Sampras ($43,280,489)
There is quite a big gap between Agassi in sixth and his American compatriot in fifth. A difference of $12,127,514 to be exact.

Sampras has 14 Grand Slam titles, which puts him third on the all-time list, to his name while he won 64 singles titles during a career that spanned from 1988 until 2002.

4. Andy Murray $60,807,644
The first member of the modern-day Big Four comes in at No 4 on the Prize Money Earners List. Murray has already won three Grand Slam titles and finished runner-up on numerous occasions.

However, he will be the first to admit that 2017 wasn’t his best year as he won only one title, the Dubai Tennis Championships in March, and appeared in only one other final, the Qatar Open in January.

Further bad news for Murray is that he has plenty of catching up to do if he wants to compete with the top three in terms of money earned.

3. Rafael Nadal ($94,588,627)

Nadal has a nice gap to Murray in fourth place, but he has quite a long way to go before catching up with the top two as you will see below.

2017 has been a good year for the Spaniard in terms of Grand Slams, rankings and money earned. He added another French Open and US Open to collection to take his Grand Slam tally to 16 and also reclaimed the world No 1.

In terms of the prize money “change” he added to his bank account this year, it was a “mere” $12,704,000.

2. Novak Djokovic ($109,805,403)

Djokovic was top of the list for a long time and was the first player to hit $100m, but he was overhauled by Roger Federer during the latter months of 2017.

However, when you have earned that amount in just prize money in a career that has not even spanned two decades, then you won’t mind too much.

For the record, the Serb has 12 Grand Slam titles to his name and has already won 68 career singles titles, which puts him seventh on the Open Era list.

1. Roger Federer ($111,885,682)

Like Nadal, 2017 has been the year of the comeback for Federer as he broke his Grand Slam drought with victory over the Spaniard in the Australian Open final.

His victory Down Under was his first major since 2012 and he then added another Wimbledon title to his CV to take his Grand Slam total to 19, which puts him three clear of Nadal in the all-time list.

Federer won $11,786,856 in prize money this year and won seven of the eight finals he appeared in. Not bad for a man on the wrong side of 30.

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