The highest earning tennis players of 2025, so far

With millions on the line at the French Open, we take a look at the players who have pocketed the most in prize money so far this year

By Cayle Reid

Published: May 26, 2025

OF THE 64 TROPHIES that can be won on the ATP and WTA tours, few are more coveted than the French Open. As the only grand slam played on a clay surface, the French Open presents a unique opportunity for clay court specialists to punch above their weight and ranking. Plus, now that 14-time champion Rafael Nadal has retired, the field is more open than it has been for a long time. But of course, there are more benefits to winning a grand slam than taking home a prestigious trophy.

The French Open offers a total prize pool of more than $98.5 million AUD, a record sum that’s more than five per cent larger than last year’s purse. A single win – or even an appearance – at the tournament is enough to cover most people’s yearly salaries. Take Jannik Sinner for example, who has been out of action for three months as a result of a doping ban. It won’t take the Italian world number one long to recoup some of his losses, as he and everyone else participating in the first round of the tournament will net $137,000 by simply showing up for their opening match, regardless of whether or not they win.

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, Nadal and Murray retired, and Wawrinka and Djokovic in the death throes of their careers, the rankings of the highest earning tennis players look markedly different than what fans are accustomed to. See for yourself below, where we rank the highest earning men’s and women’s players of 2025.

All figures have been converted to AUD and are accurate as of May 26th 2025.

Top 10 richest tennis players in the world

10. Jasmine Paolini

2025 earnings: $3.84 million

Where did Jasmine Paolini come from? At the start of 2024, the 29-year-old had never been ranked higher than 29th, but during a career-best year, she made the singles and doubles final at the French Open and the singles final at Wimbledon. And although she lost all three of those matches, she’s still rocketed up the WTA rankings all the way to fourth. Most of her prize money this year has come from winning her home tournament, the Italian Open.

9. Iga Swiatek

2025 earnings: $3.85 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. 2025, however, has been a down year for Swiatek, who is yet to win a tournament this season. That said, semi final appearances at the Australian Open, Qatar Open, Indian Wells Masters and Madrid Open have still earned Swiatek a decent chunk of change.

8. Alex Zverev

2025 earnings: $4.15 million

In the absence of Jannik Sinner, Alex Zverev was widely expected to dominate the early tournaments on the ATP calendar. But since being defeated by the Italian in the Australian Open final, Zverev has only managed to win a single tournament, the Munich Open. As always, Zverev’s achievements have been largely overshadowed by accusations of physical abuse brought against him by the mother of his child. Zverev was charged $735,000 in 2023 for allegedly assaulting his partner and reached an out of court settlement for around $300,000 in 2024. Controversially, his earnings have already far surpassed that figure.

Jack Draper becomes a Burberry ambassador — Image: Burberry

7. Jack Draper

2025 earnings: $4.18 million

One of the new kids on the block in men’s tennis, Jack Draper only made his first ATP final in March at the Indian Wells Masters, but he made the most of the occasion with a win. Draper made another final just over a month later at the Madrid Masters, but had less luck the second time around. Don’t quote us on this, but Draper might be the only player in history whose only finals appearances have come in Masters tournaments. We doubt he’ll maintain that status for long, however, with more finals sure to follow.

Richest Tennis Players — INSTAGRAM | @cocogauff

6. Coco Gauff

2025 earnings: $4.32 million

If there’s one player on the WTA tour that you don’t want to meet in a final, it’s Coco Gauff. The 21-year-old phenom has nine wins to just three losses in finals. If Gauff makes a final, she usually wins it, and that rang true in 2024, a year in which she won the Auckland Open, China Masters and WTA Finals. The latter of which carries the most prize money of any WTA event. In 2025, on the other hand, Gauff has been unsuccessful in both of her finals appearances, at the Madrid and Italian Opens. Still, with Swiatek no longer looking invincible, Gauff has a solid chance of breaking the Pole’s three-year stranglehold on the French Open.

5. Jannik Sinner

2025 earnings: $4.39 million

In the wake of the Big 3’s departure, Jannik Sinner has emerged as men’s tennis’ new hegemon, winning the Australian Open, Rotterdam Open, Miami Masters, Halle Open, Cincinnati Masters, US Open, Shanghai Masters and ATP Finals in 2024. Sinner followed up his career-best, 73-6 win/loss year by defending his title at the Australian Open before being banned from competition for three months. But despite not being able to defend his points for a quarter of the season, Sinner still sits comfortably atop the ATP’s world rankings by a few thousand points.

4. Mirra Andreeva

2025 earnings: $4.56 million

Teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva has rocketed up the WTA rankings to enter the French Open as the world’s sixth-ranked player at just 18 years of age. She became the youngest ever winner of a WTA Masters tournament earlier this year when she won the Dubai Championships, and followed it up with her second Masters win at Indian Wells, defeating world number one Aryna Sabalenka to do so. Andreeva’s next big challenge is proving herself at a grand slam. She’ll get her chance at Roland Garros, where she made the semi finals in 2024.

3. Madison Keys

2025 earnings: $4.71 million

Madison Keys made her first grand slam final way back in 2017, when she was only 22 years of age. At the time, it looked like it would be the first of many chances at a major trophy. But in the years following, Keys struggled with injuries and eventually plummeted outside of the WTA top 50 in 2021. She clawed her way back to the top, and won her first Grand Slam at the Australian Open earlier this year, defeating world number one Iga Swiatek and world number two Aryna Sabalenka en route.

2. Carlos Alcaraz

2025 earnings: $6.10 million

In a season that has thus far seen far more parity than usual, Carlos Alcaraz is the highest earning men’s player. A lot of that has to do with Jannik Sinner’s ban, but Alcaraz has made the most of his rival’s absence. The Spaniard has won the Monte Carlo Masters and Rome Masters to start 2025, earning most of his winnings. He now has a chance to upset Sinner, who may be a little rusty, at the French Open.

1. Aryna Sabalenka

2025 earnings: $6.95 million

A sign of the times. With WTA and ATP players now receiving equal prize money at most tournaments, we will likely see women topping this list just as often as men. Aryna Sabalenka has been the most dominant tennis player, male or female, of 2025. She made it to the final at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Stuttgart Open, while also winning the Miami and Madrid Masters. It once looked like Sabalenka may never escape Iga Swiatek’s shadow, but she has well and truly eclipsed her biggest rival this year.

Who is the richest tennis player of all time?

That would be the big-serving Brașov Bulldozer, better known as Ion Tiriac. Who? We don’t blame you if you haven’t heard of Tiriac, who only has one grand slam to his name (the 1970 French Open doubles title) peaked at a world ranking of 19th and never made it past the quarterfinals in singles at a grand slam. You see, Tiriac didn’t make his money playing tennis, he amassed his fortune of an estimated $3.6 billion AUD from his business pursuits. After the downfall of Romania’s communist regime, Tiriac founded what would become UniCredit Bank Romania, one of nation’s first privately owned banks and now its largest.

Tiriac was also an Olympic ice hockey player, has the distinction of being the first man to defeat a woman in a professional tennis match and was the subject of an intriguing profile in the New York Times authored by noted American writer John McPhee. In the article, McPhee writes that Tiriac’s drooping moustache, laid back attitude and general mystique suggests that he “has been to places most people do not imagine exist. He appears to be a panatela ad, a triple agent from Alexandria, a used-car salesman from central Marrakesh. Tiriac has the air of a man who is about to close a deal in a back room behind a back room.”