Injuries have momentarily halted what already seems to be like a generational rivalry between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, permitting one other males’s tennis participant—Alexander Zverev at Roland-Garros in June—to seize a Grand Slam singles title for the primary time since 2023. However even when the 2 younger aces can’t make it onto the court docket, they’re locked in a battle for monetary supremacy.
The 23-year-old Alcaraz continues to have the sting together with his off-court earnings, raking in an estimated $38 million over the past 12 months from endorsements, appearances, exhibitions and different enterprise endeavors to beat Sinner’s estimated $35 million. Consider prize cash, nevertheless, and it’s the 25-year-old Italian who comes out on high, bringing in an estimated $58 million in complete pretax earnings courting to the 2025 U.S. Open—about $4 million higher than the Spanish famous person’s estimated $53.7 million.
Sinner, who’s No. 1 within the ATP Tour’s singles rankings, is just the fourth participant to say the highest spot on Forbes’ annual tennis earnings record throughout its 19-year historical past, dethroning Alcaraz, the two-time reigning monetary champion. (Earlier than that, Novak Djokovic led the rating in 2023, and Roger Federer had a stranglehold on No. 1 for 15 straight years till he retired in 2022.) Maybe most spectacular, Sinner’s on-court complete of $23 million—together with ATP prize cash from the previous 12 months in addition to a bonus he acquired from the tour—is one of the best determine ever to seem on the Forbes record, despite the fact that he took a month off earlier than Wimbledon and has been sidelined since by a knee damage.
Sinner will now miss the U.S. Open, which begins on Sunday, creating one other opening for the 29-year-old Zverev, who capitalized on Alcaraz’s absence at this yr’s French Open. That end result broke a streak of 9 straight majors at which Sinner or Alcaraz had secured the singles title and pushed Zverev’s 12-month earnings to an estimated $18.7 million, which lands him among the many world’s ten highest-paid tennis gamers for the primary time since 2019, at No. 9.
Collectively, the game’s ten high earners collected an estimated $333 million over the previous yr, up 17% from 2025’s $285 million and simply behind 2020’s $343 million haul.
That yr’s report complete was buoyed by a career-best $106 million exhibiting from Federer, and his choice to hang up his racket in 2022, together with Rafael Nadal’s retirement in 2024, has disadvantaged the record of one of many steadiest sources of earnings in sports activities, with Federer tallying $1.1 billion in pretax earnings whereas nonetheless energetic and becoming a billionaire final yr. However tennis’ monetary rating acquired an sudden bump this yr when Serena Williams returned to the court after a virtually four-year layoff. The 44-year-old legend—who determined to not play singles at this yr’s U.S. Open as a wild card however competed in blended doubles this week with Alcaraz and can enter girls’s doubles together with her sister Venus—has racked up an estimated $40.1 million in earnings over the previous yr to return in at No. 3, behind Sinner and Alcaraz. The overwhelming majority of that money is from her endorsements and different enterprise ventures—Williams has earned simply $131,932 in prize cash this yr, having performed in solely 4 tournaments main as much as the Open.
The inclusion of Williams helps elevate the record’s cutoff to $17.4 million—set by Elena Rybakina, greater than $3 million past 2025’s report excessive of $14.3 million—and ensures that there are extra girls (six) than males (4) within the high ten for the primary time within the Forbes tennis rating’s historical past. In one other signal of the momentum within the girls’s sport, Coco Gauff—the world’s highest-paid female athlete in every of the previous two years—has been surpassed not solely by Williams but in addition by Aryna Sabalenka, who slots in at No. 4 within the total rating with an estimated $36.1 million, edging Gauff’s $35.5 million.
These outcomes don’t imply that female and male tennis gamers are on equal monetary footing. Males have traditionally had higher entry to endorsement offers, and whereas the 4 Grand Slam occasions have lengthy supplied the identical winner’s examine to their males’s and ladies’s champions, a pay hole has endured at smaller occasions.
The WTA Tour, nevertheless, has dedicated to bringing prize cash in line at its 1000- and 500-level mixed occasions with the boys’s ATP Tour by subsequent yr, and at single-week 1000 and 500 tournaments by 2033. This month, the Cincinnati Open awarded $1,151,380 to males’s singles champion Arthur Fils and $1,085,220 to Gauff, the ladies’s winner, a distinction of $66,160—down from a $525,975 cut up on the identical occasion simply two years in the past.
On the identical time, the talk over participant pay extends effectively previous the gender hole. Over the previous two years, most of the sport’s stars have united in calling for the 4 Grand Slams to put aside a higher share of their revenues as prize cash, with the Guardian not too long ago reporting that the purse at Wimbledon was about 14% of the event’s revenue. (Against this, the benchmark utilized by the six ATP and WTA mixed 1000 occasions is 22%.)
In a coordinated protest at this yr’s French Open, a number of gamers restricted their media availability, and so they have saved up the stress since—together with a threat by Sabalenka that high gamers might boycott the majors solely—which led each Wimbledon and the U.S. Open to implement large prize cash will increase. As well as, this month, the 4 Grand Slams collectively introduced the creation of a player council to present athletes higher enter into the occasions.
In the meantime, in recent times, the ATP has expanded bonus swimming pools for its top-performing gamers and launched a profit-sharing components that enables them to immediately profit from the income progress on the tour’s occasions. But gamers who sit out tournaments—for any purpose, together with damage—can have their pay slashed, with Sinner receiving nothing from the 1000-level mounted pool in 2025 after he missed 5 of the 9 occasions.
That actuality has put tennis’ grueling 11-month calendar beneath even greater scrutiny. For years, gamers from each the ATP and the WTA have sought extra breaks of their schedules—and simply as with their calls for for extra prize cash, it seems they might be getting what they need. The WTA fashioned a council this yr to handle the scheduling points, and a member of the duty pressure not too long ago informed Entrance Workplace Sports activities he expects a vote on the matter throughout this yr’s U.S. Open.
The Highest-Paid Tennis Gamers 2026
#1. $58 million
AGE: 25 | NATIONALITY: Italy | ON-COURT: $23 million • OFF-COURT: $35 million
Cameron Spencer/Getty Photos
Sinner’s victory at Wimbledon in July was the fifth Grand Slam title of his profession, and he’s 175-15 in ATP singles matches over the previous three seasons, together with a record 34 straight wins in Masters 1000 matches. Though a knee damage will sideline the 2024 U.S. Open champion from this yr’s match, the 25-year-old Italian is assured to stay No. 1 on the earth rankings, with a 5,010-point lead over No. 2 Alexander Zverev—the person he beat within the Wimbledon ultimate. Away from the court docket, Sinner introduced a partnership with insurance coverage big Allianz in January, including to a sponsor secure that additionally consists of main Italian manufacturers De Cecco, Gucci and Lavazza. And whereas he isn’t recognized for enjoying most of the exhibitions which have turn into well-liked in tennis, Sinner received the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia in each 2024 and 2025. Every victory got here with a $6 million examine.
#2. $53.7 million
AGE: 23 | NATIONALITY: Spain | ON-COURT: $15.7 million • OFF-COURT: $38 million
Matthew Stockman/Getty Photos
After lacking each the French Open and Wimbledon due to a wrist damage, Alcaraz will return to the court docket on the U.S. Open, searching for his third title on the match and his eighth Grand Slam victory total. The 23-year-old Spaniard, who began 2026 with a win on the Australian Open that made him the youngest man ever to finish the profession Grand Slam, knocked a few of the rust off at Arthur Ashe Stadium this week within the U.S. Open’s blended doubles competitors, competing as a wild card alongside Serena Williams. Off the court docket, Alcaraz stays tennis’ high pitchman, partnering this yr with fintech agency Ant Worldwide and IT powerhouse Infosys. He has additionally headlined exhibitions on the Miami Marlins’ ballpark and the New Jersey Devils’ area, together with an exhibition victory over Sinner in South Korea in January. One other signal of Alcaraz’s standing as a fan favourite: In October, the racket he used within the 2023 Wimbledon ultimate offered at public sale for a record $173,066.40.
#3. $40.1 million
AGE: 44 | NATIONALITY: U.S. | ON-COURT: $0.1 million • OFF-COURT: $40 million
John Walton/PA Photos/Getty Photos
Williams ended her nearly four-year hiatus from aggressive tennis in June, competing in singles at Wimbledon and in doubles at three occasions this summer season earlier than her U.S. Open blended doubles look this week with Carlos Alcaraz. One factor is definite: The 44-year-old GOAT didn’t return to the court docket for the cash. Forbes estimates Williams’ internet price at $400 million, making her the world’s richest girl who made her fortune primarily as an athlete, and she or he is energetic each as an investor—by way of her agency Serena Ventures—and as a model ambassador. Williams has been sponsored by Nike for 23 years, and she or he extra not too long ago partnered with Heineken, Issue and Ro, turning into the face of the telehealth firm’s marketing campaign round GLP-1 weight reduction medicines. Williams can be an “entrepreneur in residence” for Reckitt Catalyst, an incubator inside the client items big, and she or he served because the model for a new Barbie doll—pointedly carrying a enterprise swimsuit quite than a tennis skirt.
#4. $36.1 million
AGE: 28 | NATIONALITY: Belarus | ON-COURT: $13.1 million • OFF-COURT: $23 million
Robert Prange/Getty Photos
As Sabalenka heads into the U.S. Open, she just isn’t solely searching for her third straight title on the match and fifth Grand Slam total—the 28-year-old Belarusian can be combating to hold on to the WTA’s No. 1 rating. Sabalenka, who has spent practically two straight years on the high, should win the Open to keep up her place; in any other case, she’s going to cede the spot to Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula or Coco Gauff, relying on the outcomes of the match. Sabalenka has nonetheless received three tournaments in 2026—Miami, Indian Wells and Brisbane—and has been busy off the court docket, including partnerships this yr with a half-dozen manufacturers, together with Emirates airline, Materials Good jewellery and Stella Artois. She additionally participated in a well-publicized match billed because the Battle of the Sexes in December, dropping to Nick Kyrgios in Dubai, in addition to exhibitions in Hong Kong, Atlanta and New York.
#5. $35.5 million
AGE: 22 | NATIONALITY: U.S. | ON-COURT: $7.5 million • OFF-COURT: $28 million
Robert Prange/Getty Photos
Gauff’s kind has been inconsistent since she captured her second Grand Slam singles title on the 2025 French Open, together with early exits at Indian Wells and the French Open, however the 22-year-old American enters the U.S. Open coming off runs to the semifinals at Wimbledon and the Canadian Open and a victory this month on the Cincinnati Open, the place she continued to point out enchancment together with her serving. Off the court docket, Gauff is sponsored by greater than a dozen manufacturers, unveiling a take care of Oura sensible rings this month, and she or he served as an government producer on two brief documentaries for the Tennis Channel this summer season. And Gauff is getting extra out of social media than a spot to advertise her companions: In March, she credited a user on X for declaring that she ought to go to the online extra, a technique that helped her win her match on the Miami Open.
#6. $30.2 million
AGE: 39 | NATIONALITY: Serbia | ON-COURT: $5.2 million • OFF-COURT: $25 million
Matthew Stockman/Getty Photos
Djokovic hasn’t received a significant since extending his males’s report to 24 Grand Slam singles titles on the 2023 U.S. Open, however the 39-year-old Serb confirmed he can nonetheless contend by reaching the ultimate on the Australian Open in February and the semifinals at Wimbledon in July. A victory in Queens could be doubly historic: Not solely would a twenty fifth Slam put him three forward of No. 2 Rafael Nadal on the all-time record, however the $5.5 million winner’s examine would make Djokovic the primary tennis participant in historical past with greater than $200 million in profession prize cash. Then again, Djokovic revealed this month after dropping his first match on the Cincinnati Open that he has been coping with “a health issue” for a few years, with out elaborating. As he approaches retirement, Djokovic has a sturdy sponsor portfolio, becoming a member of funding agency Normal Atlantic as a “international strategic advisor” in June to go together with offers together with Hublot, Lacoste and Qatar Airways. He was additionally the topic of The Wolf in Winter, an Amazon Prime Video documentary launched this month.
#7. $22.6 million
AGE: 23 | NATIONALITY: China | ON-COURT: $0.6 million • OFF-COURT: $22 million
Robert Prange/Getty Photos
An elbow damage compelled Zheng to have surgical procedure in July 2025, and she or he hasn’t but been capable of recapture the shape that earned her an Olympic gold medal on the 2024 Paris Video games, a drought that has dropped her singles rating to No. 121 and compelled her to slog her manner by way of U.S. Open qualifying. However even when Zheng just isn’t a outstanding presence on tour proper now, the 23-year-old stays arduous to overlook in her native China, showing in adverts for manufacturers together with Alipay, tea chain Chagee and dairy producer Yili Group. Zheng additionally introduced offers this yr with Turkish Airways and Qwen, Alibaba’s AI platform.
#8. $20.5 million
AGE: 25 | NATIONALITY: Poland | ON-COURT: $5.5 million • OFF-COURT: $15 million
Robert Prange/Getty Photos
Winner of six Grand Slam titles, together with the 2022 U.S. Open, Swiatek has a protracted option to go to match Serena Williams’ Open period girls’s report of 23, however the 25-year-old Pole is gaining floor on the Masters 1000 degree. Swiatek received the Canadian Open this month for her twelfth trophy within the class, which was launched in 2009, leaving her one behind Williams’ report. She is now 26-5 in WTA match finals, giving her one of the best profitable proportion of any participant with 20 or extra such matches since 1990. Swiatek, who’s backed by sponsors together with Coach, On and Oral-B, can be the one tennis participant—man or girl—to have reached the third spherical at each main because the begin of 2020.
#9. $18.7 million
AGE: 29 | NATIONALITY: Germany | ON-COURT: $13.7 million • OFF-COURT: $5 million
Carmen Mandato/Getty Photos
Overshadowed early in his profession by the Huge Three of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic and extra not too long ago by Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, Zverev had his main breakthrough in June with a five-sets victory over Flavio Cobolli within the French Open ultimate. The 29-year-old German now has $68.6 million in profession ATP prize cash, trailing Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Sinner however main Alcaraz. Off the court docket, Zverev’s fame has been broken by home abuse accusations—he settled a case introduced by a former girlfriend in 2024 and has denied the allegations—however he introduced a brand new endorsement deal in November with Loewe.
#10. $17.4 million
AGE: 27 | NATIONALITY: Kazakhstan | ON-COURT: $11.4 million • OFF-COURT: $6 million
Katelyn Mulcahy/WTA/Getty Photos
Rybakina began 2026 the identical manner she ended 2025: with a giant win. After triumphing on the WTA Finals in November to gather $5.2 million in prize cash—to that time, the biggest winner’s examine ever in girls’s tennis—Rybakina, who was born in Russia however represents Kazakhstan internationally, edged Aryna Sabalenka for the Australian Open title in January. Now, the 27-year-old is searching for her third profession Grand Slam victory on the U.S. Open, the place she has by no means superior previous the fourth spherical. Such a run could be welcome information for sponsors that embrace Kazakhstan’s Financial institution RBK, Vanguart watches and Yonex.
METHODOLOGY
The Forbes rating of the world’s highest-paid tennis gamers displays on-court earnings over the past 12 months, courting to the 2025 U.S. Open, together with prize cash and participant payouts from the ATP Tour’s profit-sharing program and stuck bonus pool. (The mounted bonuses correspond to the 2025 season; the profit-sharing figures for that yr haven’t been finalized but, so Forbes consists of the 2024 season payouts, which gamers acquired in 2025.) The on-court figures are rounded to the closest $100,000 and have been transformed to U.S. {dollars} when vital.
Off-court earnings estimates, that are rounded to the closest $1 million, are decided by way of conversations with trade insiders and replicate earnings from endorsements, licensing, memorabilia, appearances and exhibitions, in addition to money returns from any companies through which the athlete has a major curiosity.
The record consists of athletes energetic in the course of the 12-month time interval. Forbes doesn’t embrace funding earnings similar to curiosity funds or dividends however does account for payouts from fairness stakes athletes have offered. Forbes doesn’t deduct for taxes or brokers’ charges.
