Roger Federer once again achieves greatness. This time, the Swiss legend didn’t win a prestigious title on court, but he was the first tennis player in history to become the top paid athlete in a given year.
According to Forbes, Roger earned $106,3 million in 2019 followed by soccer stars Cristiano Ronaldo ($105 million), Lionel Messi ($104 million), Neymar ($95,5 million), and basketball player James LeBron ($88,2 million).
Once again, Roger leveraged his earnings on his brand. Therefore, while he earned $6,3 million from prize money, he got $100 million from endorsements. Federer is endorsed by 13 brands and he made an interesting partnership with Uniqlo after parting ways with Nike striking a deal that is estimated to pay $300 million over 10 years.
Uniqlo’s head of global creative John Jay explains how Roger ‘s personality is making this deal work.
“We feel the greatest impact of Roger Federer is yet to come. Of course, it will be fueled by his status as the greatest of all time, but Roger’s ability to bring positive change to the world is his future and ours.,” he commented.
David Carter, a sports business professor at USC’s Marshall School of Business, explained why Roger has earned so much.
“His brand is pristine.which is why those that can afford to align with him clamor to do so,” he said.
One key move that helped Federer’s finance was leaving IMG with his agent and friend Tony Godsick to launch their own company Team8. Godsick managed to get prestigious clients such as Juan Martin Del Potro, Sascha Zverev, and Coco Gauff.
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Earning more than double than Nadal and Djokovic
It’s interesting to notice that Roger earned more than double than Djokovic (no.23 in the list) that pocketed $12,6 million in prize money and $32 million in endorsements. Nadal was 27th in the list as he earned $14 million in prize money and $26 million in endorsements.
As already reported, Naomi Osaka was the highest-paid female athlete with $37,4 million ($3,4 million in prize money and $34 million in endorsements).
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Roger Federer in 2020
Currently ranked no.4, Roger played his last match on the 30th of January when he capitulated to Novak Djokovic 7-61 6-4 6-3 in the semifinal of the Australian Open.
Roger Federer’s most significant achievement of the present season was getting to the semi-finals at the Australian Open.
Rafael Nadal in 2020
At the moment ranked no.2, Nadal played his last match on the 29th of February when he overcame Taylor Fritz 6-3 6-2 in the final in Acapulco to win his 85th career title.
During this season the Spaniard has a 13-3 win-loss record. Nadal has won 1 title in Acapulco.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal played each other 40 times. The head to head is 24-16 for Nadal. The last time that they squared off, Roger Federer won 7-63 1-6 6-3 6-4 in the semifinal in London (Wimbledon) in July 2019.
Novak Djokovic in 2020
At the moment ranked no.1, Novak played his last match on the 29th of February when he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 6-4 in the final in Dubai to win his 80th career title.
This year Novak has a 18-0 win-loss record. The Serbian conquered 2 titles in 2020 at the Australian Open and in Dubai.
