Novak Djokovic officially hit £143 million ($180 million) in career prize money after ending the season by winning the ATP Finals. The Serb took home £12.7m ($15.9m) this year as he collected seven titles, including three Grand Slams. As well as standing alone with the highest prize money in tennis, Djokovic has also out-earned other major sports stars including Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan.
Djokovic picked up an extra £3.5m ($4.4m) on Sunday when he won the ATP Finals with a 4-1 record for the week, losing just one group stage match to Jannik Sinner before beating the Italian in the final. It meant that he extended his records for most prize money earned in the 2023 season and throughout his career.
The 36-year-old is already tens of millions of pounds ahead of his long-time rivals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer when it comes to prize money, as they have pocketed £107.4m ($134.6m) and £104.2m ($130.6m) respectively. But he has also extended the gap between himself and some other huge names in the sporting world.
When it comes to golf, Tiger Woods has the most career prize money at £97m ($121m) but his earnings pale in comparison to Djokovic’s. It doesn’t help that the American only picked up £48k ($59k) on the PGA Tour in 2023 – 269 times less than the Serb’s £12.7m ($15.9m) for the year.
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And Djokovic’s earnings are almost double that of Michael Jordan’s. According to Forbes, the NBA icon took home £75m ($94m) in salary and signing bonuses during his 15 seasons in the league. If the 24-time Grand Slam champion continues at a similar rate next season, he could edge close to the $200 million mark – a landmark in professional tennis.
The Serb was the first player to reach the milestone of $100 million back in 2016 after reaching the quarter-final of the French Open, a tournament he went on to win. And he could well get to the next historic figure before hanging up his racket. However, money isn’t what motivates the 98-time title winner.
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Djokovic already has all the big records in the sport – 24 Grand Slam titles, 400 weeks at No 1, 40 Masters 1000s – and he recently admitted that he was still eager to keep going and lifting even more trophies. “Motivation, especially for the biggest tournaments in sport, is still present,” he said after winning the ATP Finals on Sunday.
“It still inspires me to keep going. In the end of the day, people see you performing in the big tournaments, but they don’t see all the weeks and months of dedicated day-to-day, week-to-week work, trying to build your form so that you can peak where you want to peak. For me, obviously those are Grand Slams and World Tour Finals, and next year hopefully also Olympic Games.”
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