Here’s How Much Rafael Nadal Earned During His Tennis Career

Forbes

The 38-year-old Spanish tennis ace is retiring after the Davis Cup, but he’ll still have a robust portfolio of investments and endorsements.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettknight/2024/11/17/heres-how-much-rafael-nadal-earned-during-his-tennis-career/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Tennis legend Rafael Nadal is set to retire after a career that has spanned more than

00:04two decades and seen him become more successful than just about anyone who has ever picked

00:09up a tennis racket.

00:11His 22 Grand Slam singles title set a men's record, since surpassed by Novak Djokovic,

00:17and his $134.9 million in career prize money is second in ATP Tour history, again behind

00:26only Djokovic.

00:27Nadal also earned in excess of $415 million from endorsements, appearances and other business

00:34endeavors for more than $550 million in total pre-tax earnings, according to Forbes estimates.

00:42That leaves him well behind the $1.1 billion that his other great rival, Roger Federer,

00:48piled up in his own extraordinary career before retiring in 2022, and it puts him roughly

00:54level with Djokovic, who continues to thrive on tour at age 37.

00:59But no other tennis players and few athletes from other sports come close.

01:03Even Serena Williams, who won 23 Grand Slam singles titles and helped set a new standard

01:09for female athlete pay before leaving the sport in 2022, finished roughly $120 million

01:16behind Nadal.

01:17Nadal didn't quite change the marketing game like Federer, one of only seven athletes to

01:22have crossed $1 billion in earnings while still active.

01:26But Nadal maintained a robust sponsor portfolio that is also unusually stable by the standards

01:32of tennis, where players often swap out brand partners every few years.

01:37Nadal signed with Nike in 1999 and has been tied to Kia since 2004, the year before his

01:43breakout win at the French Open.

01:45He has played with a Babel Racket since he was a 9-year-old junior in 1995, signing his

01:50first international contract with the company in 2001.

01:54He picked up Richard Mill watches in 2010 and Spain's Telefónica in 2014, with Infosys,

02:01Louis Vuitton, and Subway among the more recent additions to a stable that runs more than

02:07a dozen brands deep.

02:09Many if not all of Nadal's sponsors should continue to support him in retirement.

02:13He has already shown he can be a relevant pitchman when he isn't playing, after injuries

02:18limited him to nine tournaments over the last two seasons, including just two of the past

02:23eight Grand Slams.

02:25And Federer's experience is instructive.

02:27The 43-year-old Swiss superstar was still collecting an estimated $95 million annually

02:33when he walked away from tennis, and he continues to work with the vast majority of his partners

02:38from his playing days.

02:39Nadal will have to work to stay in the spotlight, the way fellow sports icons Tom Brady and

02:44David Beckham have.

02:46Perhaps he'll wind up the next Pete Sampras, overshadowed by a new generation of tennis

02:50greats.

02:51Nadal will also have to keep his reputation clean, after he made perhaps the first branding

02:56misstep of his career when he became an ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation in January.

03:02The deal is believed to pay him multiple millions annually, but fans, particularly in his native

03:07Spain, have criticized him for participating in a sports-washing campaign that diverts

03:12attention away from the kingdom's history of human rights abuses.

03:16But Nadal is also taking control of his own fate with more entrepreneurial pursuits, acquiring

03:22equity stakes and launching businesses of his own.

03:25Among his many ventures, he's the owner of an electric boat racing team in the E1 series

03:31and is behind a new resort brand called Zelle.

03:34Perhaps closest to his heart, he runs a tennis academy in his hometown, Manacor, on the Spanish

03:39island Mallorca, which has earned admirers around the sport and helped mold Kasper Ruud,

03:45now a mainstay in the ATP Tour's top ten.

Category

Transcript

Recommended