Roger Federer Joins Jordan & LeBron In The Billionaire Athlete Club

Forbes

Lucrative endorsements and a stake in shoe brand On have made the Swiss star just the seventh athlete in the three-comma club—and a food tech investment may serve up another payday.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/justinbirnbaum/2025/08/22/roger-federer-is-now-a-billionaire/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, tennis legend Roger Federer is now a billionaire.

00:06In 2019, Roger Federer stood at center court in Basel, Switzerland,

00:11with gold confetti raining from above and tears streaming down his face.

00:16The show of emotion was natural after a straight sets victory in the final at his hometown tournament,

00:21the Swiss Indoors, where he had once served as a ball boy. But it also seemed to reflect a

00:27growing awareness that, at age 38, he might not have many more such moments as a professional

00:33tennis player. In fact, that trophy proved to be the last one that Federer would ever hoist,

00:39with injuries severely limiting his final three years on the ATP tour before he finally hung up

00:44his racket in September 2022. But even though Federer, now 44 years old, never added another

00:51piece of hardware to a collection that also included 20 Grand Slam singles titles and two Olympic medals,

00:57he remained tennis's highest paid player all the way to the end, and into retirement.

01:03Now, Forbes estimates that Federer is a billionaire, with a net worth of $1.1 billion,

01:10thanks in part to a significant minority stake in publicly traded Swiss shoe and apparel brand

01:15ON. Federer, whose father from a prominent Swiss family and whose mother, raised in South Africa,

01:22both worked for a pharmaceutical company, started playing tennis at age three. He became the world's

01:28top-ranked junior player and, after turning pro in 1998, made his breakthrough in 2003 by claiming the

01:34singles title at Wimbledon. Over his 24-year ATP tour career, Federer spent 310 weeks as the top-ranked

01:43men's singles player and won 103 tournaments while hauling in nearly $131 million in prize money,

01:50still the third-best total in tennis history, behind only his rivals Novak Djokovic with $189 million

01:57and Rafael Nadal with $135 million. Federer was even more successful off the court,

02:04collecting roughly $1 billion before taxes and agents' fees from endorsements, appearances,

02:10and other business endeavors during his tennis career, more than double what Djokovic or Nadal has

02:15pocketed, according to Forbes estimates. With an unmatched sponsor portfolio that included several

02:21brands that stuck with him for more than a decade, Federer was the world's highest-paid tennis player

02:26for 16 straight years and, in 2020, led all sports with an estimated $106.3 million in total pre-tax

02:34earnings. Federer stands as one of just seven athletes to have crossed $1 billion in career pre-tax income,

02:41while active in their sport, along with Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James,

02:47golfers Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, soccer players Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi,

02:53and boxer Floyd Mayweather. Now, as a billionaire, Federer is part of an equally exclusive group,

02:59as only the seventh high-level athlete to join the Three Comma Club. The first was another tennis

03:05player Ion Tiriac, who won the 1970 French Open Men's Doubles Championship and also played hockey for

03:12his native Romania at the 1964 Winter Olympics. Tiriac, who began investing after the fall of

03:18communism, joined the Billionaires List in 2007 and has an estimated net worth of $2.3 billion,

03:25with interests in real estate, car dealerships, and financial services.

03:28He was followed in 2014 by Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, now worth an estimated $3.8

03:35billion, and later by Lakers great Magic Johnson, worth an estimated $1.5 billion, and former Milwaukee

03:43Bucks sixth man Junior Bridgman, who had a $1.4 billion fortune when he died in March. James, worth an

03:51estimated $1.2 billion, and Woods, worth $1.3 billion, are the only athletes to have joined the Three Comma Club

03:58while still active in their sports.

04:01Federer's business success starts with his marketing appeal. A carefully cultivated stable of sponsors

04:07that has long included Lint, Mercedes-Benz, Rolex, and Moet & Chandon made him synonymous with luxury,

04:14dovetailing with his elegant style of tennis and a spotless reputation. Lisa Delpy Nerodi,

04:20director of the Sport Management Program at George Washington University, says, quote,

04:26Between his character and his likability, that's a big thing. You may be a great athlete on the field,

04:31but not everyone likes you. He's kind of debonair, he's got good looks, he's very polite,

04:36he's sophisticated, and his brands reflect that. For full coverage, check out Justin Birnbaum's piece

04:43on Forbes.com. This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes, thanks for tuning in.

05:01erto.com

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