While most players outside of the top 100 in the world struggle with making a living from their play, the best paid stars reel in millions per year. The main difference for the sport’s top earners? Sponsorships and endorsements.
For players like Carlos Alcaraz, the main income these days is off the court, where they not only endorse rackets and tennis clothes, but luxury and daily goods. Today, we want to get a deeper understanding of the sponsorships, and which are the best paid ones in men’s and women’s tennis.
Who are the best earning tennis players right now?
It comes as no surprise that, with Roger Federer retired, the new stars of the sport also lead the way in earnings. As of 2024, Carlos Alcaraz tops the earnings rankings with a total of 45m $ in the past 12 months (as of June 30,2024). He is closely followed by Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner, and the first woman in the rankings, Coco Gauff. The young American star leads the WTA in total earnings with 25.6m $, even though her on-court price money is clearly behind Iga Swiatek, who follows in second place. Other notable players in the top 10 of earnings include Medvedev, Zverev and Nadal on the men’s side, and Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu on the women’s side.
As you can guess from some of these names, it isn’t always about on-court success when it comes to the total money earned. Some of these players, such as 2021 US Open champion Raducanu, have hardly earned a million dollars in total price money but are very much marketable to certain companies. So, while this might not be in the tennis-romantic’s preference, looks and accessible market play an increasingly important role for earning money as a tennis player. And a lot of agents and manager have understood this assignment, as they search for the best deals to build their players’ fortune.
Which one is the best sponsorship deal out there?
The most basic endorsements are obviously about tennis gear, from racket to clothing. The racket companies of these days do not disclose much about their sponsoring and most likely the those aren’t the biggest numbers. Alcaraz for example has a Babolat contract until 2030, with earnings undisclosed to the public. Other players are the face of their respective racket brand, as Daniil Medvedev and Iga Swiatek are for Tecnifibre. They surely get paid a considerable amount for their endorsement, but the top deals most likely are found in other branches.
Let’s take a look at the clothing lines for example, where fans for ages have spent good amount of money to get the outfit of their idols on the tennis court. The top brand in endorsements here without a doubt is Nike, who have most of the current and coming stars in their roster. They signed Jannik Sinner to an infamous 150m $ deal in 2022, before he even had his biggest success. The deal is set for 10 years, paying a whopping 15m $ per year to the Italian World No. 1. After the French Open 2024, they also signed Alcaraz to a similar deal, which is reported to be even higher per year and include an own logo, similar to Rafael Nadal’s line of clothing. They also have the WTA stars with the biggest following in their roster with Aryna Sabalenka, Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu.
There are of course other brands who are trying to cut into Nike’s lead, such as ON, New Balance or Lacoste, who have been aggressively targeting young and promising players. Their deals might not be as valuable as the Nike prime endorsement, but they are most likely more in the focal point of their respective brand. Anything over a million per year, such as Raducanu’s 1,5m $ deal, can be considered a very good one, with only certain players reaching double digit numbers ever.
The highest deal ever reported belongs to no other than the Maestro himself, Roger Federer. The Swiss gentleman, who led the endorsement rankings even in 2021 without playing, earned a total of 300m $ from Uniqlo, when he made the switch from Nike to them. He additionally had a contract with ON, introducing them to tennis and holding shares of their company, totaling his endorsements to 84m $ in 2021. He retired with combined career earnings of over 1bn $, made both of on- and off-court earnings. This was also mainly due to his good image, good marketing from his team and the addressable market.
Side deals – watches, luxury and more
Of course, tennis is one of the sports that is perceived as elite and luxurious in many ways. This opens the possibilities for players to endorse products outside of tennis, which mostly are within the luxury lifestyle branch. Almost all top players these days have their own watch sponsor, quickly putting on their Rolex, Richard Mille or others for their interviews on court. Jannik Sinner famously walks on court with his signature Gucci bag and Carlos Alcaraz has shot several campaigns for Louis Vitton last year.
The women have their most famous off-tennis ambassadors in Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu, who all either are retired or far from the top as of now. This goes to show that even while the women earn as close to the men as in hardly any sport, they still do not get the same attention. Or at least there is a possibility to excel without winning the biggest titles on a consistent level, as both Raducanu and Osaka beat World No.1 Iga Swiatek in off-court earnings.
To have an idea, also for lower ranked players, have a look at this list covering the sponsorships for the top 200 ranked players.
