Carlos Alcaraz finished first on Sportico’s 2026 list of the highest-paid tennis players with an estimated $62.9 million, a total driven heavily by off-court money. Novak Djokovic net worth may be the search term readers start with, but the ranking itself shows where the sport’s top earnings are landing right now.
Alcaraz collected $44 million from endorsements and appearance fees. That figure, plus prize money, put him ahead of Jannik Sinner, who finished second with $59 million.
Alcaraz and Sinner
The gap at the top was narrow, and the names ahead of the field were familiar. Alcaraz and Sinner won nine straight Slams before Alexander Zverev stopped the run at the 2026 French Open.
That run still helps explain the list. Alcaraz is 23 and ranks fifth in ATP career prize money; Sinner is 24 and ranks sixth. Since the start of 2022, Alcaraz has won 25 titles, including seven Grand Slam events, which keeps him in the center of the sport’s money race even when the biggest checks are not coming from trophies alone.
Serena Williams and the women
Six women were in the top 10, and Coco Gauff was among them at $40.3 million. Serena Williams also made the list at $40 million, a higher estimated total than when she was playing tennis full-time.
Williams returned to the sport in June after last playing at the 2022 U.S. Open. She also has more than 10 brand deals, 18 million followers on her Instagram account, and speaking engagements that can command seven figures, all of which keep her earning power near the top even with limited on-court work.
Off-court money drives tennis
The top 10 tennis players collectively earned $344 million, up 26.5% from last year’s $272 million. Most of that money came off the court, and Alcaraz’s portfolio shows the mechanism: more than 10 endorsement partners, an eight-figure per annum deal with Nike, and a May signing with Ant International that will put him in ad campaigns across Singapore-based Ant International, including Alipay+, Antom and WorldFirst.
That leaves one practical question hanging over the leaderboard: how much of Alcaraz’s $44 million off-court total came from endorsements versus appearance fees and licensing? Sportico’s ranking does not split that out, but the overall picture is clear — tennis’s biggest earners are being paid as much for their reach as for their results.
