Roger Federer is World’s Highest Paid Athlete

According to the list released by Forbes Magazine, tennis legend Roger Federer is the highest paid athlete in the world for the last year. One of the greatest tennis players of all time, Federer has 20 Grand Slam wins to his credit – the highest ever in the sport.

Earning over a whopping $106 million of pre-tax earning, Swissman Federer became the first tennis player ever to top the list. Of his earning, a major chunk was due to endorsements: having one of the best endorsement profiles in the history of tennis, he earned $100 million off the court, thanks to endorsements with brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Uniqlo, and Credit Suisse.

Soccer icons Christiano Ronaldo, earning $105 million, and Lionel Messi, earning $104 million, on the second and third spot respectively rounded off the top three spots on the Forbes 100 highest paid athletes in the world.

In the past four years, these two soccer player have swapped the first position three times. However, with European soccer league play halted in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both saw some salary deductions.

“The coronavirus pandemic triggered salary cuts for soccer stars Messi and Ronaldo, clearing the way for a tennis player to rank as the world’s highest-paid athlete for the first time,” said Forbes’ Senior Editor Kurt Badenhausen.

Brazilian soccer player Neymar, with an earning of $95.5 million, was on the fourth spot whereas American NBA player LeBron James was on the fifth spot with an earning of $88.2 million.

Athletes from 21 different nations and 10 sports were on the list this year. However, only two women athletes made it to the list – tennis champions Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams were on the 29th and 33rd position respectively. Earning around $37.4 million in the last 12 months, Osaka became the highest-paid female athlete in history.

Interestingly, no women athletes other than tennis players have ever made it to this list.

Also, the 100 highest-paid athletes earned combined total of $3.6 billion this year. This amount is 9 per cent below the combined total earned by the same group last year, and is the first such decline since 2016.

Here is a list of the top 10 players on the list:

Take a look at the entire list here.