The highest earning tennis players of 2025, so far
With millions on the line at US Open, we take a look at the players who have pocketed the most in prize money so far this year
By Cayle Reid
OF THE 64 TITLES that can be won on the ATP and WTA tours, few are more coveted than the US Open. As the final grand slam of the year, playing at Flushing Meadows is a special occasion for every player – and historically, it has been the least predictable of the grand slams. But of course, there are more benefits to playing tennis than the prestige that comes with it.
US Open offers a total prize pool of more than $138.75 million AUD, a record sum. 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 was out of action for three months earlier this year as a result of a doping ban. It won’t take the Italian world number one long to recoup some of his losses though, as he and everyone else participating in the first round of the tournament will net $170,000 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 August 25, 2025.
Top 10 richest tennis players in the world
10. Jack Draper
2025 earnings: $5.65 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.
9. Jasmine Paolini
2025 earnings: $5.85 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, and making it to the final of the Cincinnati Masters.
8. Madison Keys
2025 earnings: $6.11 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 that followed, 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 then-world number one Iga Swiatek and world number two Aryna Sabalenka en route.
7. Mirra Andreeva
2025 earnings: $6.41 million
Teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva has rocketed up the WTA rankings to enter the US Open as the world’s fifth-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.
6. Alex Zverev
2025 earnings: $6.54 million
In the absence of Jannik Sinner, Alex Zverev was widely expected to dominate the early tournaments on the ATP calendar this season. 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.
5. Coco Gauff
2025 earnings: $9.17 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 ten wins to just three losses in finals, with her most recent win coming at the French Open. 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.
4. Aryna Sabalenka
2025 earnings: $11 million
Aryna Sabalenka made it to the final of the Australian Open, French 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 now has a more than three thousand-point lead over her closest rival in the current WTA rankings.
3. Iga Swiatek
2025 earnings: $12.66 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 six French Opens. 2025, however, has been a down year for Swiatek, as she’s had her number one ranking slip from her grasp. That said, titles at Wimbledon and the Cincinnati Masters, as well as deep runs at various other tournaments, have still earned Swiatek a decent chunk of change, the most of any women’s player.
2. Jannik Sinner
2025 earnings: $13.94 million
In the wake of the Big 3’s departure, Jannik Sinner has emerged as one half of men’s tennis’ new hegemonic duo, 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 atop the ATP’s world rankings thanks to his latest victory at Wimbledon. And clearly, Sinner’s time off hasn’t made too much of a dent in his savings.
1. Carlos Alcaraz
2025 earnings: $16.39 million
In a season that has thus far seen far more parity than usual, Carlos Alcaraz is the highest earning 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, Rome Masters and Cincinnati Masters, as well as the French Open this season, defeating Sinner in the final of the latter three. Alcaraz looks set to dominate men’s tennis and continue topping this list for years to come.
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.”
What tennis players have earnt the most in prize money over the last five years?
2020: Novak Djokovic, $10.47 million
2021: Novak Djokovic, $14.80 million
2022: Carlos Alcaraz, $16.43 million
2023: Novak Djokovic, $25.94 million
2024: Jannik Sinner, $32.04 million
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