“Numerous zeros stir people’s souls” – Kommersant FM

Daniil Medvedev became the highest paid Russian player, even despite losing in the Australian Open final. In Melbourne, the athlete received more than $1 million and surpassed the most successful tennis player in Russia, Maria Sharapova, in the amount of prize money in her career. For details, see Kommersant FM sports commentator Vladimir Osipov.

Rich athletes often get upset when members of the press start counting their money, and yet major financial publications routinely publish lists of the richest athletes. Tennis players here are often ahead of the curve, and Russian Daniil Medvedev has been in the spotlight lately.

For example, according to Forbes, he earned $20 million in 2023. Of this, $13 million was received through sponsorship contacts. This season, Medvedev earned $1.1 million just for reaching the final of the Australian Open. Daniil’s total prize money for his career exceeded $39 million. This is $500 thousand more than the legendary Maria Sharapova. But when calculating the income of tennis, you need to remember that absolutely all expenses in this sport are borne by the star player himself, said tennis columnist of the Kommersant Publishing House Evgeny Fedyakov:

“Here the tennis player pays for everything himself. This is the nuance that he is sort of the boss, roughly speaking. For example, Novak Djokovic travels with his team, he has a massage therapist, a physiotherapist, a coach, sometimes even two. All this requires expenses.”

Also, do not forget that very often after an athlete becomes a real star, income from sponsorship contacts can seriously exceed the prize money at tennis tournaments. Medvedev, of course, has a lot of such contracts. One of the major sportswear manufacturers even has its own brand. But comparing Daniil with Maria Sharpova, whatever one may say, is incorrect.

The fact is that Maria, even before retiring from her career, managed to create an entire business empire and earned, mind you, $325 million, of which tennis prize money amounted to, so to speak, only $38 million. So Medvedev has room to strive. The recipe for incredible financial success for a tennis player who has already completed her career was explained by sports manager Sergei Kushchenko:

“The marketing story is an indication that a very good mix was made between tennis results and attracting sponsors to the Maria Sharapova brand.”

Now Sharapova invests in startups and lives in a Los Angeles suburb in a house worth $8.5 million. Medvedev, unlike Sharapova, prefers Europe. He trains in Monaco. This cozy place is chosen by many tennis players, if their earnings allow it, of course. And it’s not just about the crazy views of the Ligurian Sea, in Monaco everything is easy when it comes to taxes.

For example, there is no capital gains or real estate tax. But you still need to understand that not all tennis players can afford such a life. It is sometimes difficult to make money on Monaco even for players who take to the court in serious tournaments, said tennis columnist for Kommersant Publishing House Evgeny Fedyakov:

“Players in the top 50 are considered fairly wealthy people in tennis. Those occupying the next 100th place in the rating are, let’s say, tolerable. And everyone else is hard workers, hard workers who are forced to make ends meet.”

When calculating the income of tennis players, many publications publish amounts before taxes. According to the same Medvedev, in countries such as the USA, France or England it is approximately 50%. But despite this, there is unlikely to be less attention to the earnings of tennis stars. Numerous zeros when it comes to earnings stir people’s souls.

Well, how can you ignore the information that Novak Djokovic has earned $180 million in prize money during his career? After all, it will be difficult to reach this amount in the near future. For comparison, even such stars as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal accounted for approximately $130 million each.

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