Who is the richest tennis player of all time? No, the answer is not Roger Federer. It’s not even Rafael Nadal, or Novak Djokovic, or Serena Williams for that matter. It’s not a player from any of the Western countries, but a legend from an Eastern European nation, Ion Tiriac.
This beats the perception Novak Djokovic has that players like him from Eastern European or outside the ‘Western bloc’ of countries, do not get as much respect from the media and marketers. He credits that to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal being loved than him.
Ion Tiriac, the namesake behind the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy of the Romanian Open, is the richest tennis player of all-time. Yes, as shocking as it may sound, the former Romanian tennis star has accumulated an astounding amount of wealth in his career, mostly post-retirement from tennis.
The question ‘Who is the richest tennis player of all time?’ isn’t a new one. And yet it might come as a surprise for many to find that it’s not any Grand Slam winner. Tiriac’s net worth is $1.2 billion, the majority of which came from his business ventures. His tennis career fetched him 150,000 GBP ($460,000 USD approximately) in prize money, which is paltry when compared to his overall wealth.
Alongside Romanian businessman Dan Petrescu, Ion Tiriac founded several businesses. Some began in erstwhile West Germany. After the collapse of communism in Romania, Tiriac also founded an eponymous bank, which took advantage of the political situation then and benefitted immensely from it. He became the first Romanian to enter the Forbes List of Billionaires in 2007.
If Tiriac’s wealth is compared with tennis legend Roger Federer, it might look embarrassing for the Swiss gentleman. Roger Federer comes right after Ion Tiriac at no. 2 in the list of ‘Who is the richest tennis player of all time?’ But his wealth is less than half of that of Tiriac’s. Federer’s net worth is $550 million USD from various sponsorships and endorsements besides tennis. From Uniqlo to Credit Suisse to On to Rolex to Lindt to Sunrise and many more, the list of Federer’s endorsement brands is never-ending.
Roger Federer, however, has accumulated $130,594,339 USD in tennis prize money alone. This is abundantly more than that of Tiriac’s prize money. Federer is third in the list of most prize money earned by tennis players. Additionally, Roger Federer has made more than $1 billion USD in his career in combined on and off-court earnings, making him the first tennis player to do so from his sport and the marketable image he created for himself.
If Ion Tiriac is the answer to who is the richest tennis player of all time, then who is the richest sportsperson of all-time?
The answer is ‘No’, although he is very high up on that list. NBA legend Michael Jordan leads the list of ‘Richest Athletes in the World‘. With $2.6 billion USD of net worth, Jordan has earned a mere $90 million USD from his NBA prize money if compared to his net worth. The majority of the remaining wealth is from his unimaginably lucrative deals with Nike, including the Air Jordan. Vince MacMohan, the CEO of WWE, also has a $2.6 billion USD net worth and is the second richest in the list since he made it to the list as a non-professional sportsperson.
LeBron James of the LA Lakers is the current richest NBA player, with just over $1 billion USD in net worth. NFL legend Tom Brady, who played for the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has over $300 million USD net worth. And so does F1 legend Lewis Hamilton, who is idolized by current Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner.
American tennis legend Serena Williams also has a $300 million net worth, making her the richest female tennis star. But the Jessica Pegula net worth would go on to become $3.2 billion USD, even though her tennis earnings are only $12 million USD. That’s because her parents are billionaire business people who are also owners of the Buffalo Franchises in the NFL and the NHL i.e. Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres respectively.
Even after considering all accounts, Tiriac’s wealth is seriously astounding.
