Tennis is now a global sport, thanks to the contribution of modern greats of the game. It has emerged as one of the most widely played sports across the globe in the last 3 – 4 decades. With time, tennis has grown in its lucrative appeal and opened up doors to wider audiences and newer markets. The superstar status and brand value of stalwarts like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Venus, and Serena Williams have certainly helped the cause. Apart from winning numerous titles, they have also raked in a lot of money throughout the course of their careers.

But what about the financial well-being of the tennis fraternity as a whole, especially those on the lower rungs of the rankings? Former American tennis great Jim Courier has recently weighed in on the contribution of these modern legends on this issue.

Courier speaks about the sacrifice of Roger Federer, Venus Williams, and other legends

In a recent podcast with Front Office Sports, 4-time grand slam winner Jim Courier opened up on how the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Venus Williams cut down on their prize money amounts paving the way for the newer generation of professional players. He said, “.. it has been a wonderful trend to see led by top players in the game like Federer, Djokovic, Nadal and Venus Williams going to bat for the lower ranked players, saying when prize money increases come annually, we need to make sure that we’re taking care of the players who are loosing early in the tournament.”

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“We don’t need a cheque that is $3m this year to be $3.5m next year. If it goes up to $3.1m and the first round prize money goes from $25k to $40k, that’s a better use of that money”, Courier added.

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He also mentioned how this has been a continuing trend for the past decade. This has definitely added a sense of security to the lower-ranked players in the circuit who don’t always get access to the top tournaments.

Which players top the all-time prize money leaderboard?

It isn’t a surprise that the ‘big 3’ are at the top of the ATP all-time career prize money leaderboard. Novak Djokovic leads the pack with $167,296,242, followed by Rafael Nadal raking in $134,640,719 and the Swiss Maestro coming in at the 3rd spot with $134,640,719. The Williams sisters top the WTA career prize money list with Serena on top with $94,816,730 and Venus coming 2nd with $42,406,778.

All these legends have amassed whopping amounts despite cutting down on their prize money income for the benefit of the lower-ranked players. Perhaps this is what makes them such icons beyond the sport.

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