<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Saudi Arabia is set to sponsor the Women&#8217;s Tennis Association&#8217;s rankings for the next five years in the third major tennis deal to be struck in the Kingdom this year, as the country continues its high-dollar push into the world of sports that has so far included a partnership with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/06/06/pga-tour-and-saudi-backed-liv-golf-agree-to-merge/#:~:text=PGA%20Tour%20and%20LIV%20Golf%20signed%20an%20agreement%20to%20combine,%2C%E2%80%9D%20according%20to%20the%20announcement.">PGA</a>, hosting a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbesmiddleeast.com/lifestyle/sports/saudi-arabia-to-make-its-formula-one-grand-prix-debut-in-2021" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Formula One Grand Prix</a>&nbsp;and signing the world&#8217;s highest-paid&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/cristiano-ronaldo/">soccer player</a>, among other moves.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the national sovereign wealth fund of the country, became the naming-rights partner for the WTA on Monday,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/saudi-arabia-wta-rankings-tennis-42fc2c995beac7915eefc367e73f5275" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">multiple</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/05/20/wta-pif-partnership" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">outlets</a>&nbsp;reported.



The deal comes one month after the association&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wtatennis.com/news/3952623/riyadh-selected-as-the-host-of-wta-finals-from-2024-2026" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">announced</a>&nbsp;its championship series would be held in Riyadh for the next three years and that its prize money would be bumped to a record-breaking $15.25 million, up 70% from 2023.



The decision to host the finals tournament in the Kingdom was a&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/hrw/status/1778518445727916207" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">controversial</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/minkyworden/2024/04/05/saudi-arabia-hasnt-earned-womens-tennis-championships/?sh=26375d6b5585">move</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/may/05/saudi-topspin-tennis-fans-overlook-brutal-repression-of-women-catherine-bennett" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">criticized</a>&nbsp;by fans and groups who saw the partnership as a blow to women considering Saudi Arabia’s history of human rights abuses and female oppression.



In February, it was announced Saudi Arabia would also sponsor the ATP men&#8217;s rankings for the next five years and the ATP tour moved its leading tournament for 21-and-under players, set for November, to Jedda.



At the start of the year, top player Rafael Nadal was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/39317652/rafael-nadal-named-ambassador-saudi-tennis-federation" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">announced</a>&nbsp;as an ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation, an organization aimed at growing the sport in the region.



Iga Świątek, the No. 1 ranked female tennis player in the world, has remained relatively neutral on the WTA’s partnerships with Saudi Arabia but did&nbsp;<a href="https://www.essentiallysports.com/wta-tennis-news-dont-have-any-decision-making-power-iga-swiateks-hopeless-revelation-about-saudi-deal-and-wtas-negotiations-with-coco-gauff-herself-and-top-stars/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">say</a>&nbsp;she thought players &#8220;do not have any decision-making power&#8221; when it comes to the WTA&#8217;s deals.



American player Coco Gauff, currently world No. 3,&nbsp;<a href="https://deadspin.com/wta-tennis-finals-saudi-arabia-gauff-king-evert-1851220631/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">has said</a>&nbsp;while she doesn&#8217;t support the treatment of women in Saudi Arabia, &#8220;I hope that we’re able to make change and improve the quality and engage in the local communities and make a difference.”



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Saudi Arabia has made a series of sudden and expensive moves in the sports world over the last five years, trading massive sums of money for influence and participation on the world stage. Since 2020, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pif.gov.sa/en/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Public Investment Fund</a>, which claims to have $925 billion under management, made investments that established a new&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbesmiddleeast.com/lifestyle/sports/saudi-arabia-to-make-its-formula-one-grand-prix-debut-in-2021" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Formula One Grand Prix</a>&nbsp;in Jeddah, launched a new golf tour called LIV that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2023/09/28/pga-wants-us-money-as-insurance-for-opposition-of-saudi-takeover/?sh=3785347a3a81">later merged</a>&nbsp;with the PGA, took control of four domestic&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/65813662" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">football clubs</a>&nbsp;(including Cristiano Ronaldo&#8217;s Al Nassr), sponsored the 2023 Women’s World Cup and hosted a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/live-blogs/tyson-fury-oleksandr-usyk-live-updates-fight-card-ring-walks-time/xt7fyW7OZW3d/#:~:text=Oleksandr%20Usyk%20defeats%20Tyson%20Fury%20via%20split%20decision&amp;text=The%20Briton%20survived%20a%20standing,as%20114%2D113%20against%20him." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">boxing match</a>&nbsp;between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk. Saudi Arabia also made an unsuccessful joint bid with Greece and Egypt to host the 2030 Men’s World Cup. Critics have accused the moves of being an attempt to &#8220;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/minkyworden/2023/02/10/saudi-arabias-newest-sportswashing-strategy-sponsorship-of-womens-world-cup/">sportswash</a>&#8221; the country&#8217;s human rights abuse history while trying to enhance its reputation as a world player. The World Economic Forum ranks Saudi Arabia 131st out of 146 countries in its 2023&nbsp;<a href="https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2023.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Global Gender Gap Report</a>, four places lower than it ranked in 2022. A so-called &#8220;<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/03/saudi-arabia-personal-status-law-codifies-discrimination-against-women/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Personal Status Law</a>&#8221; implemented in 2022, codified a number of rules that require women to have a male guardian&#8217;s permission to marry or divorce. The country also does not recognize LGBTQ rights and homosexuality is still punishable by imprisonment, death and beating. Saudi Arabia has made recent strides towards a more equitable gender treatment—a decades-old ban on female drivers was lifted in 2018 and child marriages were banned in 2019—but still lags far behind other nations.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



$6.3 billion. Saudi Arabia has spent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/26/revealed-saudi-arabia-6bn-spend-on-sportswashing" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">at least</a>&nbsp;that much on sports deals since 2021.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chief-critic">CHIEF CRITIC</h2>



A number of current and former tennis players have spoken against the partnerships struck by Saudi Arabia in the world of tennis, particularly women&#8217;s tennis. Martina Navratilova, a legendary player who won 59 major titles in the 1970s and 80s, and her greatest rival Chrissie Evert together&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/01/24/evert-navratilova-wta-saudi-arabia/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">wrote an op-ed</a>&nbsp;for the Washington Post titled, “We did not help build women’s tennis for it to be exploited by Saudi Arabia.” Minky Worden, director of global initiatives for Human Rights Watch, wrote “the idea that women’s tennis would go to repressive Saudi Arabia, where the male guardianship system denies women basic human rights, is an offense to the pioneers who made women’s tennis popular. Given the poor state of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, women’s tennis should not contribute to covering up repression in the country.&#8221; Others who did not support the partnerships with Saudi Arabia include&nbsp;<a href="https://www.outsports.com/2024/4/4/24090783/wta-finals-riyadh-saudi-arabia-lgbtq-gay-human-rights-daria-kasatkina/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Daria Kasatkina</a>, an openly gay player who regularly vlogs her travels with her girlfriend.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-contra">CONTRA</h2>



Billie Jean King, a pioneering tennis player who threatened to boycott the U.S. Open in 1973 if it didn&#8217;t pay its male and female winners equally for their victories,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbssports.com/tennis/news/billie-jean-king-says-partnership-between-wta-saudi-arabia-would-be-beneficial-for-both-sides/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">last summer said</a>&nbsp;she supported talks between the women&#8217;s tour and Saudi Arabia. She said hosting WTA events in the country could help further its women&#8217;s rights movement. In October, when it appeared a deal between the tour and Kingdom was likely,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/sports/tennis/king-believes-wta-will-go-saudi-arabia-2023-10-19/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">she added</a>, &#8220;The thing I&#8217;m concerned about is the women, I want change if we go. But I&#8217;m big on engagement and inclusion so it&#8217;s a tough one.&#8221;



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Internazionali BNL D’Italia 2024 – Day Four

Saudi Arabia To Sponsor Women’s Tennis Rankings—In Third Major Deal This Year

With Roger Federer following Williams into retirement and Rafael Nadal winding down his career, opportunities abound for young players—on and off the court.



When Holger Rune&nbsp;started watching Rafael Nadal, he was about 7, maybe 8, growing up in Denmark and worshiping the Spanish tennis legend for what Rune calls his “fighting spirit.” Then he started looking up to Roger Federer, for his elegance and his transition game coming to the net.



“If I was going to idolize them, I was trying to idolize them all the way. So I wore the same clothes; I played with the same racket,” Rune tells&nbsp;Forbes, confirming that the mimicry extended to wearing Federer’s signature bandana. “I even tried the one-handed backhand, but luckily my coach told me to stick to your own tennis.”



Rune’s tennis has taken him pretty far—onto practice courts with both Nadal and Federer and into competitive matches against another player he has long admired, world No. 2 Novak Djokovic, whom Rune has actually beaten in two of their three meetings. His game has also sent the 20-year-old skyrocketing to No. 4 in the world rankings, from outside the top 100 at the start of 2022.



And he is not tennis’ only precocious player. A fellow 20-year-old, Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, sits atop the ATP Tour’s rankings while 22-year-old Jannik Sinner of Italy and 24-year-old Casper Ruud from Norway are seen as real contenders to win a Grand Slam, whether at this year’s U.S. Open or going forward.



On the women’s side, Polish phenom Iga Swiatek is No. 1 and owns four major titles at age 22, and American Coco Gauff is a 19-year-old rising star who reached the French Open final last year and won the two biggest tournaments of her career this month.



To be sure, no one—whether tournament organizers or broadcast executives or sponsors—is racing to chase Federer, who retired last year, or Nadal, who has said 2024 will likely be his final season, out of the sport. And while Djokovic is 36 and less than a year younger than Nadal, he continues to play at the highest level, winning titles at this year’s Australian Open and French Open and losing to Alcaraz in a thrilling five-set final at Wimbledon. Still, there is a recognition that tennis tends to go through cycles of talent—just as Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi ruled the era before the Big Three—and there is a growing belief that a new generation is ready to fill the void, on and off the court.



“For sure, it’s not the worst time to be in tennis,” Rune says with a smile.



He and his fellow prodigies have quite the tennis shoes to fill. Djokovic has won a record 23 major singles titles, followed by Nadal with 22 and Federer with 20—no other man has won more than 14 (Sampras). Add it all up, and the Big Three have captured 65 of a possible 80 Slams dating to Federer’s first title at Wimbledon in 2003. Their dominance has been so absolute for so long that tennis pundits speak of a “lost generation,” and the numbers back that up: Players younger than Djokovic have won a combined six Grand Slam titles since Federer exploded on the scene, with four of them coming in the last three years (Dominic Thiem in 2020, Daniil Medvedev in 2021 and Alcaraz in 2022 and 2023).



And while she did not have as much company at the top of the sport, Serena Williams, who like Federer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettknight/2022/08/09/serena-williams-tennis-retirement-net-worth-earnings/">announced her retirement</a>&nbsp;last year before backtracking somewhat in subsequent interviews, herself piled up 23 major singles titles, a women’s record for tennis’ Open Era.



The four tennis legends have an equally imposing legacy off the court. A mainstay near the top of&nbsp;Forbes’&nbsp;annual list of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/lists/athletes/">world’s highest-paid athletes</a>, the 42-year-old Federer is one of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattcraig/2022/06/12/billion-dollar-ballers-these-athletes-tiger-woods-lebron-james-federer-messi-ronaldo-mayweather-have-earned-more-than-1-billion-apiece/">just seven athletes</a>&nbsp;with career pre-tax earnings over $1 billion, having cultivated a sponsor portfolio filled nearly top to bottom with premium brands, including Rolex, LVMH and NetJets. “Novak, he tried to be ahead in technology, and Nadal, he just tried to be a little bit different,” Lisa Delpy Neirotti, associate professor of sports management at George Washington University, notes of two players who have crossed $500 million in career earnings. Meanwhile, Williams, who made an estimated $440 million across her career, was a trailblazer among athletes as a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2019/06/03/inside-serena-williams-plan-to-ace-venture-investing/">venture investor</a>&nbsp;and a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2022/12/08/serena-williams-feels-your-pain/">startup founder</a>, and transcended the sport into mainstream pop culture, appearing in two Super Bowl commercials in 2023 alone.



Alessandro Barel Di Sant Albano, who represents Gauff at Team8 and has worked with Federer, says Williams and the Big Three “have been the GOATs that have taken the traditional TV-watching fan into thinking about athletes as brands. They’re the pioneers that have taken us to a new way of looking at tennis as more of an entertainment platform, and more than just a sport.”



And all of that is setting aside the societal changes of the last 20 years, starting with the rise of social media. The upshot: The players coming of age today are entering a dramatically different, and increasingly global, sponsorship market, with more brands looking to spend more money on tennis than ever before.



The players have already started to take advantage of sponsorship opportunities, with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettknight/2023/08/25/the-worlds-highest-paid-tennis-players-2023/">eight of the sport’s ten highest-paid</a>&nbsp;now under 30. Shoe and apparel companies typically come calling first—often by age 13, Delpy Neirotti notes—but other brands have also seen “a unique opportunity to align themselves with someone who can carry the torch,” says Marijn Bal, Ruud’s agent at IMG. “They know that if they get in early, they can get a lot of bang for their buck.”



So what will it take for a young player to reach the heights that Federer did? It starts with winning, which brings more attention from marketers and can also come with a direct payoff because endorsement deals often carry bonuses—sometimes in the seven figures—for climbing up the rankings or winning Grand Slams. For instance, Emma Raducanu raked in $18 million from endorsements and appearances in 2022, after winning the 2021 U.S. Open as a virtual unknown, and Naomi Osaka’s four major titles helped her eclipse Williams’ earnings record for a female athlete with at least $50 million off the court in both 2021 and 2022.



But “you need continued dominance—you can’t be dominant for just a few months, or a couple of years,” adds John Tobias, an agent at GSE Worldwide. “And it’s also about staying healthy in a really physically demanding sport—basically an 11-month-a-year sport that requires an insane amount of travel, an insane amount of dealing with time zones. Then you have to have the right personality and the right, we say,&nbsp;passport—or you come from the right country—and the ability to communicate with people on a global scale.”



Authenticity remains another important factor, which Bal says starts with “don’t endorse Coca-Cola when you’re drinking Pepsi” but extends to aligning with brands that fit the image you’re trying to cultivate for yourself—the way that Federer made himself synonymous with luxury and Nadal cast himself as a rebel.



In addition, “social responsibility and cause marketing are more important now than they ever were before,” says Joe Favorito, a veteran marketing consultant and former executive with the WTA Tour and the U.S. Tennis Association. While the great Arthur Ashe was once questioned for talking about social issues, Osaka’s support for the Black Lives Matter movement and her statements about&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettknight/2021/06/02/naomi-osaka-is-the-highest-paid-female-athlete-ever-and-her-french-open-exit-may-actually-help-her/">mental health</a>&nbsp;have made her even more valuable for brands, Favorito says.



Even with all of those boxes checked, there is no guarantee anyone will follow Federer to $1 billion in earnings. Players have to be willing to commit to their off-court endeavors, even amid the grind of the tennis schedule—and the teenaged Gauff, for instance, is taking a slow and steady approach as she develops as a player and a person. The 25-year-old Osaka, meanwhile, was once pegged as a perennial champion but has taken an unexpected detour over the last couple of years because of injuries and a recent pregnancy. “The story arc is never that simple because that’s real life,” says Stuart Duguid, who represents Osaka at Evolve, the talent agency they cofounded. “Life happens.”



Still, the number of talented players hitting their primes at once means exciting times ahead for the sport—and, presumably, for their wealth advisors.



“They all push each other, and they’re all friendly with each other,” Bal says. “[Ruud] got to Toronto early—he practiced with Medvedev, with Rune and with Sinner three consecutive days. So these guys are not shy, they’re playing with each other, they’re pushing each other, and it’s great for the sport.”

Western & Southern Open – Day 8

Tennis’ Big 3 And Serena Won 88 Majors And Made $2.5 Billion. A New Generation Is Ready For Their Shot.

TOPLINE Champion tennis player Naomi Osaka announced Monday afternoon on Twitter that she will withdraw from the French Open after organizers fined her $15,000 over her decision to boycott press conferences during the event for mental health reasons.



KEY FACTS The decision came one day after Roland Garros, the organizer of the French Open, announced that Osaka would be fined for not attending a mandatory press conference Sunday morning in Paris.



Osaka, currently ranked No. 2 in the world, beat out Romanian player Patricia Maria Țig in straight sets Sunday morning, but skipped out on the traditional post-match presser after saying last week that facing media questions can be harmful for athletes’ mental health.



&#8220;I never wanted to be a distraction,&#8221; the 23-year-old said on Twitter Monday, adding that she&#8217;s &#8220;suffered long bouts of depression since the U.S. Open in 2018&#8221; and gets &#8220;huge waves of anxiety before&#8221; speaking in press conferences.



CRUCIAL QUOTE &#8220;This isn&#8217;t a situation I ever imagined or intended when I posted a few days ago,&#8221; Osaka said Monday. &#8220;I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris.&#8221;



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><a href="https://t.co/LN2ANnoAYD">pic.twitter.com/LN2ANnoAYD</a>&mdash; NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) <a href="https://twitter.com/naomiosaka/status/1399422304854188037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 31, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Osaka&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/naomiosaka/status/1397665030015959040?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a>&nbsp;on Twitter last week that she would not do any press conferences during the open because she felt they perpetuated a disregard for athletes&#8217; mental health, citing examples of athletes breaking down in a press room after a tough loss. “I believe that the whole situation is&nbsp;kicking a person while they’re down,&nbsp;and I don’t understand the reasoning behind it,” she said. After Osaka didn’t show to the Sunday press conference, organizers of the four Grand Slams—the world’s most prestigious tennis tournaments, including the French and U.S. Opens—said in a statement that “a core element of the Grand Slam regulations is the responsibility of the players to engage with the media, whatever the result of their match.” They also warned that&nbsp;if Osaka further violated any media obligations, she could receive additional fines, as well as face suspension from the Paris tournament and even future&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rolandgarros.com/en-us/article/statement-from-grand-slam-tournaments-regarding-naomi-osaka" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Grand Slam tournament suspensions</a>.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h4>



Osaka received an outpouring of support on social media following her tournament withdrawal, with many people—including celebrities, politicians and fellow athletes—wishing her well and applauding her decision to speak up about mental health. “As athletes we are taught to take care of our body, and perhaps the mental &amp; emotional aspect gets short shrift,” Martina Navratilova, often considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Martina/status/1399443582671540231" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>&nbsp;shortly after Osaka’s announcement. “This is about more than doing or not doing a press conference.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h4>



$37 million. That’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2020/05/22/naomi-osaka-is-the-highest-paid-female-athlete-ever-topping-serena-williams/?sh=64b43cdf1fd3">how much money</a>&nbsp;Osaka made from May 2019 to May 2020, according to&nbsp;Forbes, making her the highest-paid female athlete of all time.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/05/30/naomi-osaka-fined-15000-and-faces-suspension-over-boycotting-press-conferences/">Naomi Osaka Fined $15,000 And Faces Suspension Over Boycotting Press Conferences</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2021/05/30/naomi-osaka-fined-15000-for-french-open-media-boycott-repeat-violations-could-mean-default-from-the-tournament/">Naomi Osaka Fined $15,000 For French Open Media Boycott, Repeat Violations Could Mean ‘Default From The Tournament’</a> (Forbes)



By Jonathan Ponciano, Forbes Staff

gettyimages-1198783851-594×594

Naomi Osaka Withdraws From French Open After Media Boycott Fine

Rafael Nadal, one of the all-time best tennis players with 20 Grand Slam titles under his belt, marked another watershed moment in his career Wednesday when he won his 1,000th tour match.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h3>



With his victory over fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez at the Rolex Paris Masters, Nadal officially won his 1,000th tour-level match.



It took Nadal about 18 years to hit 1,000, having won&nbsp;<a href="https://www.atptour.com/en/news/nadal-lopez-paris-2020-wednesday" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">his first</a>&nbsp;in Mallorca, Spain in 2002.



Nadal is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.atptour.com/en/news/nadal-lopez-paris-2020-wednesday" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">only the fourth</a>&nbsp;tennis pro in history to hit four-figure wins, following i greats like Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Nadal rival Roger Federer, according to the ATP Tour.



Just last month, Nadal won the French Open, giving him his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2020/10/11/rafael-nadal-destroys-novak-djokovic-for-13th-french-open-title-record-tying-20th-grand-slam/?sh=31c96fa56044">20th Grand Slam title</a>&nbsp;and tying him with Federer for the male player with the most Grand Slam titles in history.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h3>



“[Winning 1,000 matches] means that I am old. That means that I played well for such a very long time,” Nadal said, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.atptour.com/en/news/nadal-lopez-paris-2020-wednesday" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the tour</a>. “I have been playing well for a lot of years and [that] is something that makes me feel happy.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h3>



Besides his wins on the court, Nadal is one of the most commercially successful athletes.&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;ranked him in May at #27 of the world’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/athletes/#56c1475a55ae">top-paid athletes</a>, with an estimated&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/athletes/#4f7fab7255ae">$40 million</a>&nbsp;in earnings up to that point in 2020. Since going professional in 2001, he has collected&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/rafael-nadal/?sh=330d25ba1bb0">$121 million</a>&nbsp;in prize money and can fetch&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/rafael-nadal/?sh=330d25ba1bb0">seven-figure fees</a>&nbsp;for appearances, according to&nbsp;Forbes.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h3>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2020/10/11/rafael-nadal-destroys-novak-djokovic-for-13th-french-open-title-record-tying-20th-grand-slam/#:~:text=The%20No.,the%20all%2Dtime%20men's%20list.">Rafael Nadal Destroys Novak Djokovic For 13th French Open Title, Record-Tying 20th Grand Slam</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2020/10/11/tennis-goat-rafael-nadal-vs-roger-federer-by-the-numbers/?sh=9b4ace840b3c">Tennis’ GOAT? Rafael Nadal Vs. Roger Federer, By The Numbers</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



-By Carlie Porterfield, Forbes Staff

Tag: Highest-Paid Tennis Players

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