Jannik Sinner facing alarming tax bill that puts a big dampener on his Wimbledon win
Jannik Sinner has been basking in the glow of joining the elite list of players who have won two Wimbledon titles, but he is facing a huge financial blow after being presented with a £3.6m winners’ cheque after his win against Alexander Zverev in the final.
The world No 1 was in dominant form in the second week of Wimbledon, as he blew Novak Djokovic away in a one-sided semi-final and then had too much power for Zverev in the final.
The victory earned Sinner a bumper prize money windfall of £3.6m, which was a 20 per-cent increase on the amount of money he won when he lifted the Wimbledon title for the first time the year before.
Now the tax calculations on Sinner’s winnings have been revealed, with the financial rules in the UK ensuring athletes lose a large proportion of their earnings when they play in England.
While Sinner is a resident of Monte Carlo, his earnings while he was paying in England will fall under UK tax rules and it is estimated that he will have to hand over around £1.6m of his earnings before it ever reaches his bank account.
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Czechia’s Linda Noskova will face a similar tax bill after she won her first Grand Slam title and claimed the same prize money as Sinner, but the impact on her finances are likely to be bigger.
Sinner has a career prize money haul of $64,837,801 after his Wimbledon win and may not be as concerned about the tax implications as Noskova, who boosted her career earnings to $10.7m.
This UK tax issue is a huge problem for tennis chiefs in the UK, with Wimbledon officials battling with players over prize money prior to the event as they demanded a bigger percentage of the tournament turnover.
Their bigger concern may be the tax demands that fall onto them when they play in England and this clearly impacted the player entry list at this year’s ATP 500 tournament at the Queen’s Club in June.
Big names like Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton have all played at Queen’s in recent years, but they opted to play the grass court event in Halle, Germany, this year instead.
While they did not confirm that was due to the extravagant tax issues in the UK, it’s safe to assume players would take the option to play at Halle if it means they will take home more money at the end of the event.
Former world No 1 Andy Roddick spoke about the problem on a recent episode of his Served podcast, as he outlined the depth of the problem.
“Obviously, we’re not tax experts, but they [players] skip parts of the British grass court season now and play events in Germany and the Netherlands,” he said.
“Imagine if you had the same opportunity for points or upward mobility in your job but one cost you 40% more and that’s where we basically land.
“There’s a certain amount of weeks where you get taxed because you’ve made the money in England, that tax doesn’t exist in Germany.
“If you win Halle and you win Queen’s, you win the same amount of money. But your takeaway after taxes is like a 40 per-cent (to 45 per-cent) difference. Which is a factor.”
Britain’s Arthur Fery is another player set to face a huge tax bill, with his earnings from a run to the quarter-finals at the Queen’s Club and his semi-final appearance at Wimbledon set to attract a tax bill or around £400,000.
Players can reduce their tax bill if they can provide credible expenses for their time in England, with Sinner likely to present a huge bill to cover the costs an extended coaching and medical team who would have been on his payroll during their three weeks in England.
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