Novak Djokovic leads top-earners in tennis in 2023

It pays to win, people. You win a couple of tennis Grand Slams and you are going to be set for quite some time. Of course, you first have to win the majors, such as Novak Djokovic has done before you can start counting your chickens. A friend wants to borrow $100? Just ask them to wait until after you win Wimbledon.

Novak Djokovic didn’t win Wimbledon this year, but Carlos Alcaraz did. Djokovic did win the French Open, US Open and Australian Open and a couple of other tournaments and this has helped him earn north of $10 million in on-court earnings, the best of any player – male or female – in tennis this year. That is a lot, obviously. But in Djokovic’s career, he has earned more than $175 million just by winning tournaments. So, yeah, that’s good.

Second in on-court earnings so far in 2023 is Carlos Alcaraz who has made $9.31 million. Daniil Medvedev, the runner-up at the US Open, has made $7.41 million, and that is third among all tennis players. A WTA player (finally!) comes in fourth. Aryna Sabalenka has made $7.37 million so far in 2023.

Novak Djokovic dominates top-earning players in 2023

There is still a difference between the potential of what a male player can earn in total versus what a female player can earn, unfortunately. The issue isn’t the four Grand Slam tournaments. The Australian, French and US Opens along with Wimbledon all pay the winner on the men’s side or the women’s side equally. The problem is the 1000 tournaments and below don’t always pay each gender equally. That needs to be fixed.

Fortunately, six of the top 10 earners among all tennis players in 2023 are female, even if they don’t always get paid the same at smaller tournaments. This could be due, however, to the men’s side being so heavy-laden with Djokovic, Alcaraz and Medvedev winning most of the tourneys they play in. Meanwhile, the women’s side is a bit more wide open in who might win each tournament.

The real shame is how the ATP and WTA share a pool of year-end bonus earnings based on ranking points and other items. The men’s side will divvy up $21.3 million. The WTA side will only share $4.5 million. That needs to change.