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One of the most visible changes in singles today is the prize money that is now up for grabs at various tournaments. This is is stark contrast to the early days of the sport, when tennis opened its doors to professionals in 1968.
Until the 1980s, many of the top players didn't even bother to turn up at the Australian Open due to the long travel distance. The tournament also coincided with the Christmas-New Year holiday period, and had low prize money on offer.
Today, however, all the four Grand Slam tournaments offer significant prize money to the winners.
Last year, Novak Djokovic earned approximately $2.87 million (AUD $4.1 million) after winning the Australian Open. Rafael Nadal earned around $2.6 million (€2.3 million) for triumphing at Roland Garros. Djokovic pocketed about $2.96 million (£2.35 million) for winning Wimbledon, while Nadal was richer by $3.85 million after winning the US Open.
On that note, we take a look at five of the highest earning singles players in ATP history.
Note: These figures have not been adjusted for inflation.
5 highest earning singles players in ATP history
#5 Pete Sampras ($37.7 million)
The only retired singles player in this list of top five earners in ATP history is Pete Sampras.
The big-serving American, nicknamed 'Pistol Pete'' for his super quick serves, was the most dominant player in the 1990s. Sampras finished his career with a then record 14 Grand Slam titles and was the last of the truly great successful serve-and-volley players.
Sampras' tally of 64 singles titles, which includes 14 Grand Slams and 50 ATP trophies, helped him amass a total career-prize money of $37.7 million.
The former World No. 1 won at least one singles title in all but three of his 15 years on the ATP tour, failing to do so in first two years in 1988-89 and in 2001. Impressively, Sampras won $1 million in singles prize money in all of the years when he won at least one singles title.
The American's best season in terms of prize money was in 1997 when he won $5.4 million. In that season, Sampras won the Australian Open, Wimbledon, Masters 1000 titles in Cincinnati and Paris and the season-ending ATP Tour World Championship.
Sampras, who retired in 2002, held the record of being the highest-earning singles player for six years until Roger Federer surpassed him in 2008.
#4 Andy Murray ($53.9 million)
Andy Murray is a revered figure in British tennis. The Scot ended a 77-year old British Grand Slam drought when he lifted the coveted Wimbledon trophy in 2013.
Breaking into the top 10 of the ATP rankings in 2007, Murray has won 46 singles titles. This tally includes three Grand Slam titles, 14 ATP Masters titles, one ATP Finals title and two Olympic gold medals.
Murray has earned $53.9 million in career prize money earnings in singles, good enough for No. 4 on this list.
The Scot had his best season on tour in 2016 when he became the newest ATP World No. 1. In that season, Murray won nine singles titles which included his second title at Wimbledon and the gold medal in the Rio Olympics, en route to amassing $13.3 million.
Since 2017, however, Murray has been laid low by a series of injuries. At 2019 Antwerp he won his first singles title in over two and a half years, marking a triumphant return from hip resurfacing injury.
#3 Rafael Nadal ($105.4 million)
Rafael Nadal is one of just three players to have garnered over $100 million in career singles prize money, having won $105.4 million during his illustrious career.
The lefthander who made his tour debut in 2001 at the young age of 14 has been an ever-present in the top ten of the ATP singles rankings since 2005. Nadal has won 19 Grand Slam singles titles, which are only one behind that of Roger Federer in the all-time Grand Slam title leaderboard.
Nadal is a monster on clay, earning the moniker of 'King of Clay' for his exploits on the red dirt. The world number two has won a record 59 of his 85 career singles titles on clay. This tally includes a record 12 Roland Garros titles, 11 apiece in Monte Carlo and Barcelona and nine at the Rome Masters.
However, the Spaniard has also proven his prowess on other surfaces. He is one of five players in the Open Era to have won the career Grand Slam. Rafael Nadal's major titles outside clay include five Coupe Rogers titles, four US Open titles and an Olympic singles gold medal.
In 2005, while still in his teens, Rafael Nadal produced the most prolific season of his stellar career, winning 11 singles titles. During that season, the Spaniard became the first debutant to win Roland Garros since Michael Chang did so in 1989. In the process, Nadal became the first teenager to win a Grand Slam singles title since Pete Sampras at the 1990 US Open.
During a fabulous 2010 season, he became the first player since Rod Laver to win three consecutive Grand Slam titles in a season. In that season, the Spaniard earned $8.5 million.
However, his best season in terms of career singles prize money came almost a decade later. In 2019, Nadal became the first singles player, male or female, to win 12 titles at a Grand Slam when he beat Dominic Thiem in the 2019 Roland Garros final.
In that season, the Spaniard earned $12.9 million that included $3.85 million won at the US Open, which is the highest prize money ever earned by a Grand Slam singles winner. Nadal ended the season as the oldest player to be ranked year-end number one.
Rafael Nadal started the 2020 season with a quarterfinal finish at the Australian Open before winning his 85th career singles title in Acapulco.
#2 Roger Federer ($116 million)
Roger Federer is easily one of the greatest players to have ever wielded a tennis racquet.
The Swiss legend holds a plethora of records in the sport. With 20 titles, Federer is the all-time Grand Slam singles leader, while his 309 weeks at number one and 237 consecutive weeks at the numero uno spot are unrivaled by anybody else.
The only player to win eight titles at Wimbledon, Federer is also the only one to win 10 titles at a tournament on multiple surfaces. He has won 10 titles on the grasscourts of Halle and has also triumphed 10 times on the hardcourt of his hometown tournament in Basel.
With his triumph at 2019 Dubai, Federer emulated Jimmy Connors as the only players to win 100 career singles titles.
In 2007, Federer broke his own record of most singles earnings in a season when he amassed $8.6 million en route to winning three Grand Slam titles. A year later, he became the highest earning singles player in ATP history when he reached the quarterfinals of the Madrid Masters in 2008.
Federer broke a five-year Grand Slam title drought in 2017 by beating arch-rival Rafael Nadal in a five-set Australian Open final. That season, he triumphed for a record 8th time at Wimbledon while winning five other titles, as he earned a career-best $11.7 million. In the process, the Swiss maestro became the first singles player to breach the $100 million career singles prize money mark.
Roger Federer has earned over $1 million in singles prize money in a record 18 consecutive seasons, from 2002 to 2019.
The 38-year-old's earnings from prize money on the singles court are, however, dwarfed by his endorsement earnings. Earlier this year, Federer was declared the highest-earning sportsperson by Forbes; the Swiss raked in a cool $106 million in total despite making just $6 million from prize money.
#1 Novak Djokovic ($123.7 million)
Current world number 1 Novak Djokovic tops the list of ATP singles players with the most career prize money earnings.
The 17-time Grand Slam winner is one of five players in the Open Era to have won the career Grand Slam. Djokovic completed the coveted feat at 2016 Roland Garros, in the process also becoming the first player since Rod Laver to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles.
Djokovic became the first player in history to win the career Golden Masters, the feat of winning all nine Masters 1000 tournaments, when he beat Federer in the Cincinnati final.
The 79-time career singles titlist has 34 Masters 1000 titles, which is only dwarfed by Rafael Nadal (35).
Djokovic is the only singles player in ATP history to have amassed over $10 million prize money in a season on as many as eight occasions, doing so consecutively in six seasons between 2011 and 2016.
During a banner 2015 season, the Serb won a career-best 11 singles titles that included a record six in Masters 1000 tournaments apart from three Grand Slam titles won from four finals. In that season, Novak Djokovic broke Nadal's 2013 record ($12.1 million) for most singles earnings in a season when he amassed a record $18.3 million.
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