Roger Federer has made more money than any other tennis player over the past year even though he has only played in one tournament, according to Forbes magazine.
The 20-time Grand Slam has been named the seventh highest paid athlete in the world by the publication which takes into account both on-court and off-court earnings. According to Forbes, Federer has made a total of $90M between May 2020 and May 2021. However, $89.7M of that is from endorsements. The Swiss Maestro missed most of last season on the Tour due to a right knee injury which required two surgical procedures. Since then, he has only played one tournament which was at the Qatar Open in March where he reached the semi-finals.
Forbes notes that Federer’s earnings come from endorsement deals with the likes of Rolex, Credit Suisse and Uniqlo. In 2018 he signed a 10-year deal with Uniqlo which is estimated to have a total value in the region of $300M.
It is possible that Federer’s fortunes could rise even more in the coming months amid reports that shoemaker ON is planning to launch an initial public offering as early as this autumn. Meaning that they will be offering shares to the public. Federer bought a stake in the company back in 2019. According to Bloomberg, the business could be valued in the region of $5 billion.
On the court, Federer is tuning up his game ahead of his return to competitive tennis next week at the Geneva Open. The 39-year-old has previously stated that his goal is to reach peak condition in time for the Wimbledon Championships. As to his title chances, rival Dominic Thiem recently told reporters in Rome that he shouldn’t be ruled out.
“I think so. Why not?” Thiem replied when asked if could go deep in a Grand Slam draw. “I think otherwise he wouldn’t be playing. He’s too good. He had I think too much success in the past also. I guess if he knows that he’s not playing for the big titles any more, he wouldn’t be playing. So I definitely expect him, especially in Wimbledon, that he can go very, very deep and also play for the title.”
Federer has won 103 ATP titles so far in his career which is the second highest tally in the Open Era after Jimmy Connors.
