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OF THE 64 TOURNAMENTS on the ATP and WTA tours, few are more venerated than Wimbledon. Every tennis player dreams of being victorious on the hallowed grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, as Wimbledon is the most prestigious tournament in tennis. But that’s not the only reason players want to win there.
Wimbledon offers a total prize pool of $94.8 million for singles tournaments, sitting behind only the US Open in prize money. A single win at the tournament is enough to cover most people’s yearly salaries. Take Alex de Minaur for example. After his win over Jaume Munar last night, the Demon has advanced to the third round. It’s nothing less than what was expected of him, given his top-10 world ranking. But in doing so, de Minaur has ensured he’ll pocket at least $175,000 before he heads home. Not too shabby.
Evidently, tennis pays well. You need only to follow the Instagram accounts of top ten ranked players and witness the lavish lifestyles they live for proof of that. Times are changing though. For the last two decades or so, a member of the big three (Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal) or on rare occasions Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka, would top any list of the highest earning players in tennis, that’s simply not the case anymore.
With Federer retired, Wawrinka, Murray and Nadal all putting up their final fights against father time and even Djokovic showing signs of slowing down (not yet coming close to a grand slam victory this year), the rankings of the highest earning tennis players look markedly different than what fans are accustomed to (Djokovic doesn’t even make an appearance!). See for yourself below, where we rank the men’s and women’s players by how much they’ve earned in prize money in 2024.
All figures have been converted to AUD and are accurate as of July 5th 2024.
Honourable mention: Alex de Minaur
2024 earnings: $3.59 million
Yes, this list was going to be a top ten, but our Australian bias means we just couldn’t leave out Alex de Minaur, who sits in 11th place. De Minaur has taken his game to another level in 2024, racking up four wins against top ten-ranked players and even establishing his own place inside the top ten. The 25-year-old won the Mexican Open back in March, the Libema Open in June, made the final of the Rotterdam Open, and has been consistently performing on the bigger stages at grand slams, hence why he’s trending towards the top of his sport’s highest earners for the first time.
10. Elena Rybakina
2024 earnings: $3.74 million
A former Wimbledon champion and the current world number four, Elena Rybakina is one of the best women’s tennis players on the planet, and she’s had a hot start to 2024. Rybakina began the year at the Brisbane International, which she won. She was then eliminated in only the second round of the Australian Open, but bounced back by winning the Abu Dhabi Open and the Stuttgart Open, accounting for most of her multi-million dollar winnings. She’s still in the running at Wimbledon, where she’ll hope to win her second grand slam.
9. Coco Gauff
2024 earnings: $3.92 million
One of the most exciting young talents in tennis, Coco Gauff is a certified superstar. After winning the US Open to close out 2023 and making a strong start to 2024, Gauff has climbed to second in the world rankings and looks set to stay in the upper echelon for the foreseeable future. Still only 20, Gauff has already been ranked first in the world in doubles and has a good chance of winning her second grand slam at Wimbledon this month.
8. Stefanos Tsitsipas
2024 earnings: $4.13 million
It’s been an up and down year for Stefanos Tsitsipas. He started 2024 poorly, losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open, dropping winnable matches at other tournaments and sinking outside of the top ten for the first time since early 2019. He then won his third Monte Carlo Masters (and pocketed its considerable purse). Tsitsipas may eventually win a grand slam someday, but it won’t be this year at Wimbledon, where he reiterated that grass is not his favourite surface by losing in the second round to Emil Ruusuvuori, who is ranked 88th in the world.
7. Daniil Medvedev
2024 earnings: $4.31 million
Current world number five Daniil Medvedev’s year has been characterised by near misses. Medvedev is yet to win a title in 2024, but the Russian has come agonisingly close to some major hardware. He was the runner up at the Australian Open and Indian Wells Masters, and a semi-finalist at the Dubai Championships and Miami Masters, accounting for most of his earnings. Medvedev’s quest for a second grand slam could end at Wimbledon, where he’s still in play after two rounds, but grass is not his strongest surface.
6. Casper Ruud
2024 earnings: $4.71 million
Casper Ruud was knocked out by a pair of Australians during his first two finals of 2024. First, Jordan Thompson at the Los Cabos Open, and then a week later by Alex de Minaur at the Mexican Open. He also came up short against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters and is already out of Wimbledon. Don’t feel too bad for Ruud though, he still gets paid for making all those finals he loses. And he’s since bounced back with wins at the Barcelona and Geneva Opens.
5. Aryna Sabalenka
2024 earnings: $5.57 million
It’s refreshing to see WTA stars so high up on a list of tennis’ highest earning players, but it’s to be expected as most events that appear on both the ATP and WTA tours now hand out equal prize money. Aryna Sabalenka defended her Australian Open crown to start 2024, but she hasn’t matched that level of success since. She lost the finals of both the Madrid and Rome Opens to Iga Swiatek, but she has continued to rack up points and climb closer towards her Polish adversary atop the WTA rankings. It once looked like Swiatek would have a stranglehold on the WTA for the next 10-15 years, so some healthy competition from Sabalenka can only be a good thing.
4. Carlos Alcaraz
2024 earnings: $6.76 million
By the staggeringly talented Spanish phenom’s standards, the 2024 actually got off to a slow for Carlos Alcaraz. Continually hampered by injuries, the current world number three went out in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, pulled out of his home event at the Madrid Open, and besides winning the Indian Wells Masters, didn’t entirely looked himself. Nevertheless, Alcaraz’s bank account isn’t in peril, and he bounced back by winning his third grand slam at the French Open.
3. Alex Zverev
2024 earnings: $7.08 million
Alex Zverev’s return from injury has largely been overshadowed by the case brought against him by the mother of his child due to accusations of physical abuse. Zverev was charged $735,000 last year for allegedly assaulting his partner and has now reached an out of court settlement for around $300,000, but controversially, his 2024 earnings have already far surpassed that figure.
2. Jannik Sinner
2024 earnings: $8.34 million
Tennis media, fans and pundits were quick to anoint Carlos Alcaraz as the heir apparent to Djokovic’s throne after the Spanish wunderkind racked up multiple grand slam titles before turning 21. Now, Jannik Sinner has emerged as a challenger to Alcaraz’s reign, winning the Australian Open, Rotterdam Open and Miami Masters this year. Sinner has a 38-3 record in 2024 and comfortably sits atop the ATP’s world rankings. Needless to say, Sinner’s recent success has also landed him some considerable prize money, the most of any men’s tennis player this year.
1. Iga Swiatek
2024 earnings: $9.92 million
Perhaps best described as the WTA’s answer to Rafael Nadal, Iga Swiatek is a dominant force on clay courts, winning four of the last five French Opens. She’s been less successful on different surfaces, having only ever reached the quarter finals at Wimbledon, and the 2022 US Open being her only other grand slam win. Regardless, Swiatek is the face of women’s tennis right now and likely will be for the foreseeable future. She’s even out-earned her male counterparts so far this year, courtesy of a title at the Qatar Open, three Masters victories at Indian Wells, the Madrid Open and the Italian Open, and yet another grand slam victory at the French Open.
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