Photo by Wikimedia Commons 2.0
For every tennis player on the professional tour, winning tournaments, most notably Grand Slams, is what gets them out of bed in the morning.
The accolade of etching their name into tennis folklore by winning a big event on either the ATP or WTA Tour serves as huge motivation for any player worth their salt.
As time has developed and international attention has grown around the worldwide tennis calendar, more and more revenue has been generated surrounding the sport.
Consequently, huge sums of prize money are out there to be won in all of the biggest tournaments on the calendar and that is now very much part of the appeal for players at the sharp end of the global game.
All tennis betting websites aren’t exactly creating their odds to cater for the richest tennis players; however, prize money can be a determining factor when choosing which players to back in any given event.
Men’s
4. Andy Murray – $65 million
British tennis has long needed a hero and Scot Andy Murray stepped up when his nation needed him most in the early 2010’s.
With no men’s singles Grand Slam winner since Fred Perry, Murray carried the can superbly, winning the 2012 US Open in New York.
He backed that up by becoming the first British men’s singles Wimbledon winner in over 70 years in 2013, a feat he repeated in 2016.
Injuries blighted his career, but Murray still managed to secure a lengthy spell as world number one and lead Great Britain to the 2017 Davis Cup crown.
Coming up against some of the best players to have ever played the game proved a challenge that Murray embraced and he finished his career with an impressive $60 million in prize money to his name.
3. Roger Federer – $130 million
More than doubling the financial returns is the next player on the list Roger Federer, who remains arguably the most iconic player of his generation.
The Swiss superstar bagged 20 Grand Slam titles across the best part of two decades and he blazed a trail for tennis in the modern era.
His haul of $130 million relates to prize money alone and with long standing sponsorship deals with Nike and other household names, he continues to be a tennis player that transcends the sport.
2. Rafael Nadal – $135 million
Spaniard Rafael Nadal usurped the aforementioned Federer, landing 22 Grand Slam singles titles, with 15 of those coming at the French Open.
The King of Clay is another player that brought tennis to the masses and his rivalry with Federer was truly box office viewing.
He too has plenty of commercial interests off the court, enabling him to enhance his global brand and he left an indelible mark on the sport of tennis.
1. Novak Djokovic – $190 million
Sitting pretty at the top of the list of Grand Slam titles won in the men’s game and the prize money listings is Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic.
He did it the hard way, working in the shadows of Federer and Nadal to become statistically the greatest player of all time and he continues to battle away on the ATP Tour.
A changing of the guard to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner looks to be taking place but as of 2025, Djokovic remains in the world’s top 10 and his presence in the game remains as strong as ever.
Women’s
4. Venus Williams – $42 million
Along with her sister Serena, Venus Williams brought women’s tennis firmly into the modern era in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s and she remains an icon of the game.
Equal prize money in Grand Slam events has rightly become the norm but for Venus Williams she played in an era where women tended to earn less than men for winning a tournament.
With seven Grand Slam singles titles to her name, as well as countless other accolades alongside younger sister Serena, Venus Williams stands firm as one of the highest earning tennis players of all time.
3. Iga Swiatek – $44 million
As mentioned, modern players in the female game are now earning as much as their male counterparts and Iga Swiatek is at the forefront of the current generation.
The Pole has 6 Grand Slam titles to her name, at the tender age of 24 and her performances across all of the surfaces make her a force to be reckoned with in the women’s game.
There appears to be no ceiling for Swiatek, who has a mental toughness few possess in the game, and she appears to have the taste for yet more Grand Slam accolades.
2. Aryna Sabalenka – $45 million
Belarussian Aryna Sabalenka has been in and around the top spots in the world rankings for a decade but the 2020’s have heralded a winning era for her.
On hard courts, Sabalenka has long been hard to stop, with all four of her Grand Slam triumphs coming at the Australian Open and the US Open.
The current world number one is at the forefront of the women’s game at the moment and her rivalries with Swiatek and Coco Gauff look set to dominate women’s tennis for the next few years.
1. Serena Williams – $95 million
With 23 Grand Slam singles titles on her belt, Serena Williams holds a strong case for being the greatest athlete of all time, even before any tennis playing gongs are discussed.
Along with Venus, she brought tennis to a whole new audience with her fiery playing style and power hitting and he is another global icon of the sport.
Famous triumphs in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York have defined her incredible career and she earned the best part of $100 million through her incredible playing exploits.
