Easy millions made by best tennis players. See for yourself how tennis championship lucratively pays tennis players.
How Much Does Tennis Players Make? Tennis player make a lot of money. Federer made $106.3million, Djokovic $44.6 million, Nadal $40 million, Osaka $37.4 million, and Serena $36 million just a sampled tennis champions of 2020. Players make money through tournament prize, bonuses, sponsors, exhibition, and deals just among a few sources of income for tennis players.
In order to have a better understanding of the final prize money a tennis player makes, it is worth to understand the diverse streams of income of the tennis player. In most cases, the money the richest tennis player goes home is not only from winning the biggest tournament but other streams of income are a great contributor.
1. Tournaments Pay Tennis Players
The largest source of income comes from the tournament money. Tennis tournaments pay well. There are various forms of tennis tournaments such as ATP, WTA, and Grand Slam.
How much do tennis players make per tournament can vary depending with the level and type of the game won but on average a winner tennis player earn over $4 million per game.
Below are tables showing the four main categories of major Grand Slam tournaments: Australian Open, Wimbledon, French Open, and US Open winner prize money for singles.
1. Australian Open Prize Money
| Winner | Prize Money Per Player |
| Winner | $4.12 million |
| Runner-up | $2.065million |
| Semi-finalists | $1.04 million |
| Quarter-finalists | $525,000 |
| Fourth Round | $300,000 |
| Third Round | $180,000 |
| Second Round | $128,000 |
| First Round | $90,000 |
| Third Round Qualifying | $50,000 |
| Second Round Qualifying | $32,500 |
| First Round Qualifying | $25,000 |
2. Wimbledon Prize Money
Wimbledon 2020 was cancelled as a result of COVID19 Pandemic. However, here is 2019 Wimbledon prize for winners
| Winner | Prize Money |
| Winner | £2,350,000 |
| Runner-up | £1,175,000 |
| Semi-finalists | £588,000 |
| Quarter-finalists | £294,000 |
| Fourth Round | £176,000 |
| Third Round | £111,000 |
| Second Round | £72,000 |
| First Round | £45,000 |
3. French Open Prize Money
| Winner | Prize Money |
| Winner | $1,882,592 |
| Runner-up | $941,296 |
| Semifinal | $500,358 |
| Quarterfinal | $333,572 |
| Round of 16 | $222,381 |
| Round 32 | $148,254 |
| Round of 64 | $98,836 |
| Round of 128 | $70,597 |
4. US Open Prize Winner
| Winner | Prize Money |
| Winner | $3,000,000 |
| Runner-up | $1,500,000 |
| Semifinalists | $800,000 |
| Quarterfinal | $425,000 |
| Round of 16 | $250,000 |
| Round of 32 | $163,000 |
| Round of 64 | $100,000 |
| Round of 128 | $61,000 |
2. Tennis Sponsors And Endorsements Pay Tennis Players
A larger source of income for a tennis player comes from sponsors. Serena Williams has been the top tennis champions among the females and has benefited from the high female tennis player salary.
As a result, she has attracted celebrities and other sponsors to add extra cash to her earnings. Williams has been a beneficiary to sponsors like Beats, Gatorade, Nike, and Procter & Gamble. Serena endorsement earning in 2020 totaled to $32 million according to Forbes.com.
Federer has received several sponsors deals. For instance, he pocketed $15 million from Latin America. Federer after a swing. Federer has earned the highest endorsement money compared to any other tennis champions as of 2020. According to Scroll.in, Federer attracted $100 million from endorsement and appearance fees in the year 2020.
Osaka has dual citizenship of American and Japanese. As a result, she easily attracts sponsors from either nation as a tennis champion. Some of Osaka sponsors who have added extra money in her pocket include Nissin, All Nippo Airways, and Procter & Gamble.
Osaka has been used to market the fames. According to Forbes.com, Osaka received $37.4 million in 2020 from endorsement making her the highest female earner from endorsement.
Nishikori endorsement partners include NTT, Nissin, Procter & Gamble, Japan Airlines, Asahi, and Lixil. Total endorsement in 2020 for Kei Nishikori was $31 million as documented by Forbes.com.
3. Exhibitions Payment For Tennis Players
Exhibitions are often played by the top ranked tennis players. Thus, only a few selected tennis players have been choose for an exhibition playing. In 2019 Federer pocketed £8m from a Latin America 5 exhibitions he did in 6 days only, TheSun.co.uk has full story on that lucrative deals.
That was the highest paid exhibition for Federer since an average normal exhibition playing costs about £1m.
4. Appearance Fees For Top Tennis Players
By simple showing up in a match, top ranked tennis players cash in money. Any tennis tournament that is not official and a top ranked tennis champion is needed, appearance fee is a must.
For instance, Roger Federer has the highest appearance fee cost of about $1m. Djokovic and Nadal appearance fee charges is about $800K. However, most of these top ranked tennis players can command a single pop appearance fee or over $1 million according to Forbes.com.
5. Additional Bonuses For Tennis Players
Bonuses are an added advantage to tennis players champions and can be a 7 figure bonus in prize money.. International Tennis Federation offer $1m bonus to any tennis single player in major tournaments who wins four consecutive titles as reported by En.Wikipedia.Org.
Various tennis players have enjoyed the bonus since a few outstanding tennis players have won all 4 grand slams in the same year.
US Open series offers a bonus of $1 million to the winner. Federer and Serena have won the most US Open bonuses. Other than major tournaments, sponsor companies also offer bonuses to tennis champions.
Richest Tennis Player
If you are wondering who the richest tennis player in the world is, the richest tennis player is Roger Federer whose net worth is over $450 million, Africa.BusinessInsider.com tells more.
Federer has won several international championships, he has attracted high end sponsors, deals, exhibitions and endorsement.
Federer is the highest-paid tennis player among the top tennis champions. Federer charges an appearance fee is the highest of over $1m. A 6 day exhibition in 2019 earned him £8m.
In 2020, Federer earned a total of $106.3m for his tournaments titles. Thus, it is evident that how much does it cost to be a professional tennis player can be millions of dollars depending with a tennis player ranking position.
Some tennis players have got a high net worth even if they lose a match. So, do tennis players get paid if they lose? The answer can either be a no or yes. No, the player does not win the tournament winner prize.
However, the player can still be paid if the player has shown remarkable efforts with a potential to win in future. Perhaps it can be viewed as a motivation. Even when a player comes to play after being sick and the player loses the player can be paid for the first round.
Conclusion
International tennis player champions make millions of dollars from the diverse sources of income. Besides, the more a tennis player wins more tournaments the higher the chances of attracting more money from all those available sources. Furthermore, the richest tennis player being Federer does not depend only on income from tournaments but also other sources of income such as exhibitions, sponsors, and other deals that greatly skyrockets his earnings.
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