Five-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer surpassed Pete Sampras to become the biggest all-time money earner in tennis.
Federer, 27, raised his career winnings to $43,288,519 with a second-round victory in Madrid this week, the ATP said in an e-mailed statement today. He's won 13 Grand Slams.
Sampras, who holds a record 14 Grand Slam titles, won $43,280,489. He had been the sport's top earner since passing Ivan Lendl in 1995.
Andre Agassi is third with total career winnings of $31,152,975, followed by Boris Becker with $25,080,956 and Yevgeny Kafelnikov with $23,883,797.
Federer got off to his worst start to a season since 2002. Struggling with energy-sapping mononucleosis, the Swiss lost his Australian Open crown to third-ranked Novak Djokovic in January.
Federer suffered his worst Grand Slam defeat to Rafael Nadal in June's French Open final, then had the Spaniard stop his five-year winning streak at Wimbledon in July in a five-set final. Nadal also ended Federer's record 237-week run at the top of the world rankings.
Having found new inspiration after winning the doubles gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, Federer went on to win a fifth straight U.S. Open title in September.
Sports Illustrated List
Nadal, 22, broke into the money top-10 this year and is the only other active player on the list. He's ranked eighth with $20,566,948.
Federer made $35,130,620 in 2007, including endorsements, to rank sixth on Sports Illustrated's list of the 20 highest- earning non-U.S. athletes published in June. Soccer star David Beckham tops the list with $48,200,000.
Golfer Tiger Woods made almost $128 million in prize money and endorsements in 2007, which is more than twice as much as any other professional U.S. athlete, according to Sports Illustrated.
(Source: Bloomberg)
