Roger Federer is the world’s highest-paid athlete for 2020 as the
COVID-19 pandemic knocked footballer Lionel Messi off top spot,
according to the annual Forbes list released on Friday.
The
Swiss tennis great, owner of a men’s record 20 Grand Slam singles
titles, earned $106.3m (£86.3m) in the last 12 months, including $100m
(£81.2m) via endorsements, to move up four places and become the first
player from his sport to top the list.
Football players Cristiano
Ronaldo (£85.3m), Messi (£84.5m) and Neymar (£77.6m) and American
basketball player LeBron James (£71.6m) rounded out the top five.
“The
coronavirus pandemic triggered salary cuts for football stars Messi and
Ronaldo, clearing the way for a tennis player to rank as the world’s
highest-paid athlete for the first time,” said Kurt Badenhausen, senior
editor at Forbes.
“Roger Federer is the perfect pitchman for
companies, resulting in an unparalleled endorsement portfolio of
blue-chip brands worth $100m a year for the tennis great.”
Japan’s
Naomi Osaka (£30.7m), who was ranked 29th on the list, surpassed fellow
tennis player Serena Williams (£29.5m) as the world’s highest-earning
female athlete.
Osaka and Williams were the only women on the list.
Basketball
players led all sports with 35 players among the top 100. American
football occupied 31 spots, none higher than six-times Super Bowl
champion Tom Brady (£36.5m) who was ranked 25th.
Football was the
next most represented sport with 14 players, followed by tennis (six),
boxing and mixed martial arts (five), golf (four), motor racing (three),
and baseball and cricket with one each.
