Retired Roger Federer remains on Forbes’ list for top 10 highest-paid athletes in 2023

Tennis News

Shahida Jacobs
May 3, 2023

Roger Federer is once again the only tennis player on the Forbes list of the world’s 10 highest-paid athletes in 2023, this despite the former world No 1 not playing any singles matches during the past 12 months.

Footballers continue to dominate the list as Portugal and Al-Nassr FC player Cristiano Ronaldo sits at No 1 as he accumulated $136 million over the past year and he is followed by Argentina and PSG great Lionel Messi ($130 million) with France and PSG star Kylian Mbappe $120 million completing the top three.

20-time Grand Slam winner Federer comes in at No 9 as he collected $95.1 million – up from the $90.7 million he earned the previous year.

Back in 2022, Federer earned $90 million through endorsements and 99% of this year’s earnings once again came from endorsements as he only played one match over the past year – a doubles loss during Team Europe’s Laver Cup defeat at the hands of Team Europe in September where the runners-up each received a cheque of $125,000.

The tennis great has been on the list for the past 12 years with his best showing coming in 2020 when he earned $106.3 million.

But Federer played a full tennis schedule between 2019 and early 2020 so his ranking didn’t come as too much of a surprise, but after that it was more and more about endorsements.

Where does Federer’s earnings come from?

Endorsements, endorsements and more endorsements. Oh and some savvy investments too.

The 41-year-old has long-standing deals with the likes of Uniqlo, Rolex, Credit Suisse, Mercedes-Benz and Switzerland Tourism, to name just a few.

And he remains the man for marketing new products as just this week he donned the latest Rolex Perpetual 1908 at the Met Gala in New York – the company’s first new model since it released the Sky-Dweller in 2012. Not bad for someone who has retired from professional tennis.

He is also a shareholder in athletic apparel company On and the Swiss-based athletic shoe manufacturer has made big strides over the past year as they have signed up the likes of Iga Swiatek and Ben Shelton.

On Running made its debut on the New York stock exchange in 2021 with the value rated at $7.3million, but that has more than likely increased over the past year or so.

That On earnings certainly pushed him to a comfortable No 9 in this year’s Forbes list.

Forbes List of World’s 10 Highest-Paid Athletes in 2023

1. Cristiano Ronaldo: $136 million
2. Lionel Messi: $130 million
3. Kylian Mbappe: $120 million
4. LeBron James: $119 million
5. Canelo Alvarez: $110 million
6. Dustin Johnson: $107 million
7. Phil Mickelson: $106 million
8. Stephen Curry: $100 million
9. Roger Federer: $95 million
10. Kevin Durant: $89 million