Table tennis is a game of endurance and agility, and many players worldwide have established themselves as the greatest in the sport. Although it might not seem like a lucrative career, these table tennis players have made amazing lives out of their sport. Table tennis is becoming more and more popular, but it is still less popular than sports like football or basketball. Professional athletes receive income from prize money, sponsorships, endorsements, and other sources in addition to their base pay.
Tennis players can get wealthy in a number of ways. One of the most popular means of income for tennis players is prize money. Millions of dollars in prize money are available to the best players in the globe annually. Tennis players can also profit through endorsements.
List Of Top 10 Richest Table Tennis Players In The World
1. Ion Tiriac -$1.7 Billion
After retiring from professional tennis in the 1970s, Tiriac became a highly respected coach and manager, serving as a consultant to renowned tennis players such Guillermo Vilas, Marat Safin, and Boris Becker. His great leadership abilities and in-depth knowledge of the sport have made these well-known athletes far more successful. is the owner of a vast conglomerate that includes Tiriac Holdings, TiriacAIR, HVB Tiriac Bank, Allianz-Tiriac Asigurari Romania, Tiriac Auto, Tiriac Leasing, and Tir Travel, among other businesses.
Ion Şiriac started off as a professional athlete with a very small salary, but after the Berlin Wall fell, he quickly accumulated a sizable fortune. In less than two years, his net worth surpassed $100 million. By the year 2000, his wealth had increased to $500 million. Later, in 2005, his net worth was projected to be a whopping $900 million. In 2007, Forbes recognized Ion ^iriac as the 840th richest person in the world, with a net worth above $1 billion, a tribute to his fortune and his rise to the worldwide stage of opulence. Interestingly, he is the only billionaire known to exist inside Romania.
2. Roger Federer -$550 Million
When Roger Federer started playing tennis professionally in 1999, he made a big impression by making it to the quarterfinals of a Vienna event. After a string of impressive wins, he quickly rose to the top 100 players in the ATP rankings as the youngest player. Federer’s career took a dramatic shift in 2001 when he won his first ATP singles championship, realizing his enormous potential. Not too long afterward, he showed off his extraordinary abilities at the Davis Cup, helping his countrymen and Switzerland defeat the United States. The media took notice of these accomplishments and appropriately used the phrase Federer Express in its headlines.
3. Serena Williams -$250 Million
Serena Jameka Williams, a renowned retired professional tennis player and world champion, was born in Saginaw, Michigan, on September 26, 1981. She spent some of her early years in Compton, California. Her net worth is estimated to be around $250 million. Considered by many to be among the greatest female tennis players in history, Williams has reached the top of the game eight times as the world’s top player. Together with her sister Venus Williams, she won fourteen doubles trophies and 23 Grand Slam singles titles during her successful career. Williams has further cemented her reputation as an exceptional athlete by winning gold medals in the Olympics in Sydney, Beijing, and London.
4. Novak Djokovic -$220 Million
Renowned Serbian professional tennis player Novak Djokovic has amassed a substantial $220 million net worth. Djokovic has solidified his status as one among the best athletes in sports history. In a career full of noteworthy triumphs, he made history in 2016 by being the first player to ever hold all four major titles at the same time on three distinct playing surfaces. As the only male tennis player to have won each of the nine Masters 1000 Tournaments, Djokovic is unique. On five different occasions along his trip, he has achieved the esteemed #1 ranking by the ATP. Some of the most riveting tennis matches in history have resulted from Djokovic and Rafael Nadal’s compelling rivalry.
More money has been won on the tennis court by Novak Djokovic than by any other player in the history of professional tennis. His career earnings hit a major milestone in July 2021 when they topped $150 million. With an astounding $12 million in prize money won in a single season in 2011, he broke the previous record. In addition, Djokovic signed a hefty 5-year contract with Uniqlo in 2012 as a brand ambassador, with an alleged yearly value of 8 million euros. Renowned businesses like Mercedes-Benz and Seiko have signed endorsement deals with him as a result of his successful career. 2017 saw Djokovic part ways with Uniqlo and take on a role as a brand ambassador for Lacoste. He earned $24 million between June 2017 and June 2018 via endorsements and salaries.
5. Rafael Nadal -$220 Million
Known as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Rafael Nadal has proven his abilities time and time again in a variety of competitions. Known as the “King of Clay,” Rafael Nadal has an incredible record of 82 straight wins on clay courts—a feat that has never been surpassed. Moreover, he holds the distinction of having won a Grand Slam championship every year for a noteworthy ten years, setting yet another incredible record. After winning the Australian Open in January 2022, Rafael Nadal achieved his 21st Grand Slam title. This victory increased his earnings on the court to almost $127 million, putting him just $3 million behind Roger Federer.
Nadal has received numerous honors over his remarkable career, such as five ATP Player of the Year titles and the esteemed Sportsmanship Award. In addition, he received recognition as the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year and was crowned the ITF World Champion four times.
6. Maria Sharapova -$180 Million
Born in Nyagan, Russia on April 19, 1987, when the country was still known as the Soviet Union, Maria Yuryevna Sharapova is a well-known player in the professional tennis circuit. At the youthful age of sixteen, Sharapova made her tennis debut in 2000 when she won the Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships. At the age of 14, she had already made the leap into a professional tennis career, showcasing her potential. Even though she was winning WTA matches right away, there were restrictions on how many professional matches she could play early in her career.
For an astounding 11 years in a row, Maria Sharapova held the title of highest-paid female athlete in the world. In the years since she started her career in 2001, her estimated net worth has grown to be more than $285 million. This considerable wealth is the result of her several successful brand endorsements and business endeavors in addition to her outstanding tennis accomplishments. Sharapova continues to be a well-known brand ambassador for well-known companies like Nike and Evian in addition to forging alliances with up-and-coming companies like Tonal and Therabody.
7. Pete Sampras -$150 Million
Born in Washington, D.C. on August 12, 1971, Petros Sampras grew up with Greek parents in an Orthodox home. When Sampras found a racquet in his home’s cellar at the age of three, it ignited his passion for tennis. Sampras became one of the greatest tennis players in history, starting his professional career in the late 1980s and ending it in the early 2000s. During his incredible reign, he amassed an outstanding record that included 14 Grand Slam singles victories and the coveted number-one world rating. Sampras’s remarkable accuracy and powerful one-handed backhand stroke earned him the nickname Pistol Pete.
Even after retiring in 2003, he kept playing in exhibition matches on the World Team Tennis circuit. In 2007, Sampras was rightfully admitted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in recognition of his extraordinary accomplishments.
8. Andre Agassi -$145 Million
Andre Kirk Agassi is a respected name in American tennis. He was born on April 28, 1970, in Las Vegas, Nevada, to Emmanuel Mike Agassi, a former Iranian Olympic boxer, and Elizabeth Betty Agassi. Agassi has accumulated a considerable net worth of $145 million since his retirement. Over the course of his remarkable career, Agassi rose to the top of the tennis world and was recognized as the number one player. As one of just two male tennis players to complete a Career Golden Slam—a remarkable feat that includes victories in all four Grand Slam tournaments and an Olympic gold medal—he notably joins an elite group.
In addition to his sports pursuits, Agassi founded the “Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation,” which acts as a crucial platform for aiding Nevada’s at-risk youth and supporting a K–12 charter school. Agassi Graf and his spouse, Steffi Graf, pursued business endeavors together under the name Agassi Graf Holdings. One of their business ventures was an ownership stake in Pure, a prestigious nightclub that opened in 2004 in Caesars Palace. Later, in 2010, Agassi and Graf sold Pure to Angel Management Group, giving up their ownership of the company. Exhibiting their versatility as entrepreneurs, the two collaborated with renowned high-end furniture manufacturer Kreiss Enterprises to create the magnificent Agassi Graf Collection line of furniture.
9. Andy Murray -$100 Million
Scottish-born Sir Andy Murray is a very successful professional tennis player with a respectable $100 million fortune. Murray, a well-known dominant force in the tennis game, was ranked as the world’s top player by the ATP rankings for an astounding 41 weeks. Admired as a national hero in his native United Kingdom, he has won multiple Grand Slam and ATP singles titles. Notably, Murray made history in the 2012 US Open by defeating Novak Djokovic to become the first male British Grand Slam singles champion in 76 years. He also won gold medals in the singles events at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and London, adding to his already immense fame.
Murray’s large income comes from a variety of sources, but his biggest sources are his victories in tennis competitions and his expensive endorsement contracts with elite sports brands. He has already received $459,232 in prize money in 2023, according to ATP data. According to the ATP’s official website, he has earned an astounding $63,707,517 in prize money and career earnings altogether. Murray’s considerable revenue is mostly a result of his long-lasting ties with well-known businesses. Interestingly, he had a long-term sponsorship agreement for garments with Adidas from 2009 to 2014; he then moved on to Under Armour as an endorser.
10. John McEnroe -$100 Million
Born on February 16, 1959, John Patrick McEnroe Jr. is an American tennis player who was formerly a professional. In addition to being well-known for his remarkable volleying and shot-making abilities, McEnroe also attracted notice for his fierce rivalry with Jimmy Connors and Björn Borg. His combative on-court demeanor frequently resulted in altercations with tennis authorities and umpires.
Interestingly, McEnroe is the only male tennis player in history to ever occupy the top spot in both the world rankings for singles and doubles at the same time. The only other person to do so is Stefan Edberg, who achieved the same feat at different times. Over the course of a stellar career on the ATP Tour, McEnroe won an astounding 77 singles titles and 78 doubles trophies, setting a record for the highest cumulative total of any male in the Open Era.
After quitting tennis professionally, John turned his attention to music and went on a two-year tour with The Johnny Smyth Band. But in 1997, as the band was recording an album, he decided to leave. In addition, McEnroe rose to prominence as a tennis commentator, contributing his knowledge and perspectives to prestigious competitions like Wimbledon, the US Open, the Australian Open, and other ATP events. Away from tennis, he has pursued other interests. In 2020, he narrated the Netflix series Never Have I Ever.