Rafa only 27mil? I don't think that is accurate, unless Nike is underpaying Rafa! Poor guy should negotiate a new deal with Nike, if not go find another sponsor who could afford to pay him something more respectable and more befitting his status!

i don't think he really cares :) being so focussed on improving his game all the time

He may not care, but his team does, if not why suddenly negotiate so many more endorsements for him? New ones - Quely biscuits (his hometown biscuits), the Richard Millie watch, and beginning of last year or end of 2008, he had Mafre Insurance, the Lanvin perfume and also his hometown tourist promotion board endorsements too. It is OK to get more endorsements and negotiate better deals for Rafa, as we all know a sportsman's career may not be long and he has to make the most of it. So I'm all for getting better deals for Rafa, though not to the extent of affecting his tennis schedule. His tennis career comes first.

We are celebrating Charlene Riva and Myla Rose's first birthday today!
We are currently staying in Switzerland and are having a great time
together. We will be enjoying a birthday party later today which will
certainly be a treat for our two little ones.

ROGER FEDERER

VAMOS!!

disgraceful nadal is getting less than half of what federer is getting.
i hope nadal leaves nike and goes to a chinese sponsor, they pay big bucks.
if federer is getting $61 million then nadal should get atleast $50 million.

Yep, I think 50mil is about right. Maybe this year he'll be able to make that amount. We have to bear in mind that last year he was injured and lost some opportunities in winning big tournaments and missed some appearance fees earning opportunities.

Fed will command more endorsement fees as his fan base worldwide is larger than Rafa's, but Rafa's fanbase is growing by the day and he is now world no.1, so he should be able to command more than before for his endorsement deals. As this is a thread about wealth and earning capacities of sportmen, so we are all into money talks. Hopefully this is not offputting for some fans.

take it easy, yearly earnings have a lot to do with how long you stay at the top of the sport ..i mean last year fed had 35 million nd now suddenly 61 ! rafa had only 19.8 and now 27.6 !! so as tiem goes by look for rafa's earning to escalate !

ed, Fed wasn't the highest paid sportsman for Nike, if I'm not wrong, Tiger Woods was paid even more, understandable though as golf is more popular than tennis. Fed is the highest paid tennis player though. Fed is on a ten year contract as his longevity in the sports is not called into question and he had mentioned that he would like to play professional tennis for as long as possible. I can't say the same for some other players, so they may be on shorter terms contracts.

lucky, thanks for putting me right. I opened my mouth without reading the article carefully enough!

But I do understand why Rafa is paid less by Nike in spite of their efforts to make him look more conventional*. He will never be the Beau Brummel model that Roger is - who manages to make anything he wears look a million dollars (with the exception of that dreadful Wimbledon cardigan in 2008) !!!!

* at least he is no longer being made to wear those ghastly middle-aged checked golfing shorts ;-)

ed, Cant compare Fed with Rafa, there is a five years age difference. Nike uses the two of them to target different groups of their customers: Fed the matured group and Rafa the youthful group. Can u imagine a teenager wearing clothes like Fed's, or a matured man wearing those flashy colored tight fitting clothes like Rafa's?

As Rafa wins more slams and stays no.1, his 'market value' will go up. He may not get as much as Fed but will be closer than what he is getting now. As I don't foresee Rafa having a relatively long career in tennis, it will be good that he gets as much from his endorsements as possible, of course not at the expense of his tennis.

spot on luckystar, Nike always uses rafa and roger to target different groups and this is the reason rafa is always given a different, rather unique look ...they just dont want bot men to dress alike...clever marketing.

@ed251137 , 7/25/10 10:31 AM
<<at least he (Rafa) is no longer being made to wear ... checked...shorts>>

Now Rafa wears checked shorts at the beach. It's his own choice, I think. He looks superb. :-)
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/URa9lMiayjH/Rafael+Nadal+at+the+Beach /ExnUsa7pXg6/Rafael+Nadal

Forbes, another well respected American publication and the standard reference for athlete & entertainer salaries and net worth, published their list a few weeks ago and Federer's estimated yearly earnings was ~$42 million this year and $33 million last year. Fortune estimated that Federer earned over $61 million, more than doubling what the magazine estimated he earned last year ($29 million), without quantifying how they came of with this figure. They list salary, endorsements and exhibitions, Federer hasn't played and exho since 2008 and I don't think his on-court earnings have ever exceeded $13 million in one year. Even Tiger Woods hasn't had this dramatic of an increase in such a short period of time so for me there numbers are questionable.

I'm surprised at the amount of advertising money Golf generates. If Phil Mickelson is barely below Federer, it means that people who follow Golf must be HUGE spenders. Phil has won 4 majors, which compares to Jim Courier, Guillermo Vilas or Manolo Santana in Tennis, although he is still active, and age 40, so he could play for a while.
So kids, if you want big endorsement money, start practicing now to become a Golf champ!

As for Rafa, he needs a good agent in the USA and Japan. He is barely using his popularity in endorsements. He could do a lot more than Babolat, Korean cars and Majorcan cookies. He could pick up some major brands all over the world, specially now that he is back at #1 and there's all the ink that the press is pouring over his comeback story.

Yeah Grafight!!..............I agree!!!

Its time Rafa stop offering his popularity at charity prices!!!!

VAMOS!!!

This rich list is all a figment of someone's imagination, how does anyone know what anyone else is worth. I remember someone who was on it years ago, saying even he didn't know how much he was worth, let alone anyone else.

QUINN is right...forbes states fed's earning is 43 million dollar and this really seems plausible ! a jump from 34 to 61 million in a year doesnt seems odd :S

nadline:
Famous athletes are businesses, with a product, employees, expenses, etc. And businesses in most countries are required to declare their earnings. This information is made available to the public by the government to prevent fraud and bad business practices. An athlete most likely won't know from day to day how much total he gets to keep. It depends on the contracts he has with his team, the liabilities and expenses, return on market investments and so on. Only his accountant would really know, and only after reconciling all the accounts and calculating the balances at the end of each quarter or at the end of the year. Any earnings will be added to his net worth, they won't just hand him a check.

Not such a huge crime when you get types like MS Dhoni around :P