Whether or not Rafael Nadal is the GOAT can be debated. However, there is absolutely no doubt that Nadal will always have a special place in the sport for winning a Grand Slam 14 times, a tournament which has never been won by legends like Pete Sampras, Andy Murray, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg. And as a result of this incredible achievement, the Spaniard collected almost $27 million in prize money.
These 14 victories at Roland Garros are responsible for the Raging Bull to win nearly 20% of his entire career earnings from just one tournament. The Mallorca native emerged as an elite player on the ATP Tour during the 2005 season.
Lifting the French Open 2005 trophy was the most surreal moment for the youngster. With the virtue of defeating Mariano Puerta 6–7, 6–3, 6–1, 7–5, the southpaw took home $1,064,800 (approx.).
Nadal made sure that no one could dub his 2005 title win a “fluke” by lifting the La Coupe des Mousquetaires for another 3 years in a row. The sum total of the prize money he earned for the 2006, 2007, and 2008 victories was $4,084,400 (approx.).
After suffering a shocking loss in 2009, Nadal turned to his winning ways from 2010 onwards. It seemed as if his first loss in Paris in almost five years hurt him deeply, as he would go on to win at the Court Philippe-Chatrier for 5 years on the trot. Winning the Grand Slam from 2010-2014 allowed him to collect $9,434,044 in his kitty.
Due to the several injuries he sustained in 2015 and 2016, Rafa had a dip in his production. However, he managed to silence his naysayers by winning the French Open four times in a row. The 2022 edition was the latest French Open that Nadal won. His earnings in each of those years were – $2,352,414 (2017), $2,592,475 (2018), $2,710,315 (2019), $1,894,332 (2020), and $2,290,354 (2022), as per Perfect Tennis.
Remarkably, Rafael Nadal is the player to have won the most amount of prize money from one tournament. Nadal is easily ahead of Novak Djokovic, who has won the Australian Open 10 times.
The Spaniard has also earned more than double of what Roger Federer did for winning Wimbledon 8 times. It is astounding more so because the French Open is the lowest-paying out of the 4 Grand Slams in tennis.
Rafael Nadal at French Open vs Novak Djokovic at Australian Open vs Roger Federer at Wimbledon
Roger Federer won more Wimbledon titles than any other player ever – 8 times. In total, these 8 victories accumulate $11,507,580 in prize money. While the amount is still astronomical, it is worth noting that there is an almost $15 million difference compared to Rafael Nadal’s French Open title-winning years’ amount.
Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open 10 times – 9 of them being in the 2010s and 2020s – and earned a whopping $22,927,935. Despite the Happy Slam giving the highest prize money out of three events, Djoko’s figure is still almost $4 million less than Nadal’s above-mentioned amount.
So even if Rafael Nadal loses his first round match against Alexander Zverev on Monday at the French Open 2024, it is unlikely that Novak Djokovic breaches this all-time Grand Slam money record at the Australian Open. This is because Djokovic will have to win the Grand Slam at least twice Down Under in the coming years.
