World No. 1 Jannik Sinner is the world’s highest-paid tennis participant, Forbes reviews.
Richard PagliaroAugust 28, 20263 minute learn
By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, August 28, 2026
Photograph credit score: Explora Journeys
NEW YORK—A proper knee damage knocked Jannik Sinner out of the US Open.
World No. 1 Sinner nonetheless emerges as a serious winner in New York at this time.
Reigning Wimbledon champion Sinner supplants rival Carlos Alcaraz to prime the annual Forbes World’s Highest-Paid Tennis Gamers checklist of 2026. Learn Forbes editor Brett Knight’s Forbes article on tennis’ top paid stars here.
The 2026 season is a landmark marketing campaign for tennis finance. For the primary time ever there are extra girls than males comprising tennis’ Prime 10 earners on Forbes’ rating checklist.
Six of the world’s Prime 10 tennis gamers on the Forbes checklist are girls.
The return of 44-year-old famous person Serena Williams, who earned an estimated $40.1 million over the previous yr helped elevate girls to make a serious impression on the Forbes Prime 10 checklist.
The 23-time champion Serena Williams ranked third total amongst tennis champion earners over the previous yr.
Solely No. 1 Sinner, who tops the checklist with $58 Million in earnings because of his sponsorship offers with Nike, Rolex, Head, Gucci and Explora Journeys, and Alcaraz surpass Serena in earnings.
The Wimbledon winner Sinner supplants Alcaraz, who beat Sinner within the 2025 US Open closing to regain No. 1, for the highest spot amongst tennis earners.
The 23-year-old Alcaraz, an envoy for Nike, Babolat, Rolex, and Louis Vuitton, is available in at $53.7 million in earnings over the past yr.
Final yr, Alcaraz led the checklist incomes an estimated $48.3 million, earlier than taxes and administration charges.
Three of the Prime 5 gamers on the Forbes checklist are WTA stars.
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who collected $36.1 Million, is fourth and two-time main winner Coco Gauff, who made $35.5 million in complete earnings over the previous yr is No. 5. That’s a slight drop for Gauff, who was the highest-paid feminine athlete on the planet the prior yr incomes $37.2 million. That made the Delray Seaside-born baseliner third on Forbes’ 2025 tennis monetary champions checklist.
“Your life remains to be gonna be your life regardless when you win or lose,” Gauff instructed Forbes. “And at that time, you play free.”
These gamers spherical out Forbes’ 2026 prime earners checklist:
At No. 6, Grand Slam King Novak Djokovic earned $30.2 million.
No. 7 Olympic gold-medal champion Zheng Qinwen made $22.6 million.
No. 8 was Iga Swiatek at $20.5 million, with Alexander Zverev in ninth place at $18.7 million. Rounding out the Prime 10 is Elena Rybakina, who collected $17.4 million.
A number of extra attention-grabbing info from Forbes editor Brett Knight’s Forbes article on tennis’ top paid stars:
*The Prime 10 highest-paid tennis gamers on the planet mixed to earn an estimated $333 million over the previous yr. That’s a 17 p.c rise over the 2025 totals. Forbes attributes that to “the rising incomes energy of girls’s gamers” in addition to gamers uniting to demand a larger piece of main revenues from the 4 Grand Slams.
*No. 1 Sinner’s $58 Million in earnings, embrace a complete of $23 Million in prize cash over the past 12 months, is the highest determine to ever seem on the Forbes checklist regardless of the actual fact the Italian has been sidelined with a knee damage since July.
*Sinner is simply the fourth participant to prime the Forbes annual incomes checklist in its 19-year historical past. Sinner dethroned Alcaraz for the highest spot and joins Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic to carry the title as Forbes monetary champion.
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