Top 10 highest earning tennis stars of 2021 including Wimbledon semi-finalist Djokovic – but Federer blows rivals away
ROGER FEDERER is a crock of gold!
The Swiss legend was the top tennis earner for 2021 on £62.4million despite playing just five tournaments due to injury.
The 20-time Grand Slam winner is still recovering from knee surgery last August that sidelined him from Wimbledon this summer.
And as he watches the drama unfold in SW19, where he has won eight times, Federer remains well clear for combined earnings on and off the court.
Well, he was for 2021 at least, in figures .
But since then Rafael Nadal has won the Australian Open and French Open, while Federer has not competed since Wimbledon 2021.
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Forbes' figures for 2022 are yet to be released.
But in 2021 the only two women in the top 10 were second and third respectively, Japan's Naomi Osaka with £41m and USA icon Serena Williams on £26.4m.
They were both ahead of £24.8m earner Novak Djokovic.
Nobody in tennis serves you better when it comes to a clean-cut reputation than 40-year-old Federer.
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Although it's actually Osaka who rakes in the most away from the playing action, reportedly accruing more than 90 per cent from deals such as endorsements with Workday, Tag Heuer and Louis Vuitton.
Emma Raducanu's lucrative deals with the likes of Porsche and Dior might see that change this year though.
The teenager's full list of sponsors is worth more than £8m.
Nonetheless, the sport's elite earners still saw a clear dip in income from the previous year, £252m in 2020 to £237.5m.
Covid was of course the main reason, as players "suffered" from a reduction in tournaments, exhibition matches and appearance fees.
Federer will be anxious to return to action as soon as he can, particularly as he is now two Grand Slams behind Nadal and locked on 20 alongside Djokovic.
Moving further down the 2021 list, Japan's Kei Nishikori pocketed around £19.8m last year, just ahead of Nadal's £19.7m.
Then comes a big drop to to best of the rest.
Russian Daniil Medvedev is seventh on £10.9m, followed by Austria's Dominic Thiem with £8.1m, Greek ace Stefanos Tsitsipas on £5.6m and German Alexander Zverev with £4.1m.
Brit two-time Slam champ Andy Murray, 35, misses out after two years fighting back from injuries.
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That leaves him limping by on a net worth of around £123m, including £45m winnings.
But one to watch is Murray's fellow Brit, 2021 US Open queen Raducanu, whose near £2.5m prize money last year has been slowly dwarfed by the 19-year-old's glamorous endorsement deals.