Roger Federer is the king on the tennis court. Now he is also king of the sports world after becoming the highest-paid athlete with $106 million in 2020 earnings.

Federer’s earnings are underpinned by a big contract with Uniqlo, which reportedly pays him more than $30 million a year. Federer also has long term deals with Mercedes Benz, Credit Suisse, Roles, and several other well-known brands.

MORE: Complete Sponsor List of Roger Federer

Either Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi had held the top spot in three of the last four years.  But due to COVID-19, top soccer clubs have cut players’ salaries.  This enabled Federer to leapfrog to the top of the money ladder.

Five other tennis players featured in the Top 100 including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams, and Kei Nishikori.

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A post shared by Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) on Feb 4, 2020 at 8:22am PST

Money ranking of  top tennis players

23. Novak Djokovic – $44.6 million
27. Rafael Nadal – $40 million
29. Naomi Osaka – $37.4 million
33. Serena Williams – $36 million
40. Kei Nishikori – $32 million

This is the first time that a tennis player has topped the Forbes list in its 30-year history.  Naomi Osaka topped the women’s list.  

Top tennis players are making more money than ever in endorsements.  Tennis has global appeal and brands have been eager to sign up top players such as Roger Federer and Naomi Osaka.

World Number 1 Novak Djokovic is expected to overtake Federer in grand slam wins before he retires.  But his earnings are less than half of Federer’s.  A good chunk of Djokovic’s earnings comes from his wins on the court whereas Federer’s earnings are dominated by huge sponsorship deals. 

Kei Nishikori has made the Fobes list in recent years due to his deals with Japanese companies.  Nishikori is the most recognizable Asian athlete on the men’s tour.

Georgian tennis player  Nikoloz Basilashvili was charged with physically assaulting his ex-wife.  Reports suggested that Basilashvili’s father has also been arrested related to the incident.  A court date has been set for July 16th.

Basilashvili was charged with committing “violence against a family member committed in the presence of a minor”.  He was released on bail amounting to $30,000 (27,500 euros).  He faces up to three years behind bars or 400 hours of community service if he is found guilty of the charges.

Basilashvili married his ex-wife Neka in 2013. The pair divorced in 2015 and have a five-year-old son Lucas.

Basilashvili is currently ranked 27th in the world.  He has won 3 ATP titles in his career and reached a career-high ranking of 16 in 2019. 

Basilashvili’s family released a statement denying the allegations.  The statement said, “We say with full responsibility that information about abuse isn’t true and there’s no evidence to support this fact”.

Basilashvili is the highest-ranked player in Georgia’s history.  The Georgian Tennis Federation released a statement that said, ” ‘First of all, we would like to state that Georgian Tennis Federation has always condemned any form of violence.”

‘The incident involving Nikoloz Basilashvili is currently under police investigation and GFT will refrain from either announcing its position on the matter or making any comments until such investigation is completed.’

The tennis season remains suspended due to Covid-19.  It is not clear when tournaments would resume.  But the lockdown in many countries has put a lot of stress on players.  A few ATP players such as Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev have broken up with their girlfriends.