The World No 1 and World No 3 were 2015’s highest-earning tennis players, although it was the Swiss Maestro who led that contest this year. He’s amassed a whopping US$97.3mn, Djokovic a close second with $94million.
Widely regarded as the greatest tennis player of all time, Federer is also the richest. With endorsements for luxury brands such as Rolex and Mercedes-Benz, he is also associated with several blue-chip companies, among them Nike and Credit Suisse.
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No player in the history of tennis has breached the $100 million mark, and with both the Swiss and the Serb only a few millions from achieving that milestone, it is now a wait to see which of the two will create another piece of tennis history.
The year’s earliest ATP tour events are relatively small in terms of prize money (for Djokovic and Federer), with most of them offering about $1million to title holders. The year’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, will take place at the end of January next year, and is the first big marquee event of 2016.
The prize money for men’s singles winners at the tournament this year was A$3.1million, and is set to increase to $3.85mn in 2016, a prize that would see Federer make history should he win the title. It is Novak Djokovic, however, who is the favourite to win, having beaten Andy Murray to the title this year.
Although Federer’s compatriot Stan Wawrinka won the title in 2014, the Serb took the title for three consecutive years before him, and has had great success on the surface.
The Swiss, who held the No. 1 title for a staggering 302 weeks, has not won a Grand Slam since 2012, when he beat home favourite Andy Murray to win the Wimbledon finals that year a set down to the Scot.
It will have been nearly four years since Federer added to his kitty of 17 Grand Slams, while Djokovic has won at least one Grand Slam every year for the past 5 years. 2015 has been a particularly successful season for the Serb, who took three of the year’s four Slams – losing out on the French Open title to a powerful Stan Wawrinka.
In addition to his near-perfect Majors sweep, just short of a Calendar Slam, Djokovic also has 6 Masters titles this year, and finished 2015 on a high as he beat Roger Federer to take the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals title for the third year in a row.
At 10 Grand Slams, Djokovic is a long way away from coming close to Roger Federer’s tennis records, but he could combat him for monetary milestones instead. The tall Serb has only lost 6 matches this season, most of them to top-10 players, and given his current form, does not look likely to lose a Grand Slam, especially at a venue where he is both comfortable and adept.
Federer, meanwhile, announced earlier this month that he would be ending his coaching relationship with his tennis idol, former World No. 1 Stefan Edberg, with retired Croatian ace Ivan Ljubicic taking on the role in his place. The Swiss’ game, although strong, has plateaued in the last few years, and has resulted in him seeing less-than-ideal results.
It will be interesting to see what develops, considering Federer has become known in the past few years for rushing the net, while Ljubicic himself stuck largely to the baseline. Perhaps the inclusion of the Croat will bring out a new aspect to Federer’s game, perhaps even a newer style of play.
In third behind the pair is Rafael Nadal, whose winnings are far behind those of Djokovic at $75million.
Although Federer is closer numerically to the $100mn mark it is Djokovic who is closer to the goal given his current form.
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