Roger Federer Joins Elite Group of Wealthy Athletes: Tennis Star Enters Exclusive List with Investment in Shoe Brand, Alongside Cristiano Ronaldo

Roger Federer hasn’t played professionally for almost three years, but the tennis legend continues to make headlines.

The Swiss superstar, arguably the greatest male player in history, now has another accolade to his ever-growing list: being a billionaire.

According to Forbes, the 44-year-old has joined the 10-figure club with a net worth of $1.1billion (£813million).

On went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021 and now has a market capitalisation of nearly $15bn (£11.1bn), with Federer’s equity worth more than $375m (£277.3m).

On’s roster of tennis stars include six-time grand slam winner Iga Swiatek, men’s world No 6 Ben Shelton and teenage prodigy Joao Fonseca.

During his playing days, where he won 103 tournaments over a 24-year career, Federer earned nearly $131m (£97m) in prize money and made around $1bn (£739m) in pre-tax off-court earnings via multiple sponsorship deals.

That included $150m (£110m) from Nike over two decades to wear their apparel. He left them in 2018, after 24 years, to sign for Japanese brand Uniqlo in a 10-year deal worth $300m (£228m).

However, Uniqlo don’t make footwear, allowing Federer to start his relationship with Zurich-based On. The rest is now history.

Aside from his apparel and footwear deals, he has long-standing sponsorships including Lindt, Mercedes-Benz, Rolex and Moet & Chandon.

All of his off-court income allowed him to become the world’s highest-paid tennis player for 16-consecutive years. Furthermore, in 2020 he was the highest-earning sportsperson with a then-$106.3m (£78.6m) estimated pre-tax.

The feat for Federer means he joins the rarefied air of becoming only the eighth athlete to become a billionaire.

Fellow former tennis player Ion Tiriac ($2.7bn – £2bn) became the first to hit 10-monetary figures in 2007 when he began investing in real estate, car dealerships and financial services.

Basketball icon Michael Jordan followed seven years later with the six-time NBA champion now estimated to be worth $3.8bn (£2.8bn).

His 1992 Olympic gold-medal winning team-mate Magic Johnson is worth an estimated $1.5bn (£1.1bn).

Basketball continues to dominate the list with Junior Bridgeman ($1.4bn – £1bn), who died in March, and LeBron James ($1.2bn – £887m) completing the quartet from that sport.

Golfing great Tiger Woods ($1.3bn – £961m) and football star Cristiano Ronaldo round out the seven athletes before Federer’s arrival. 

James, Woods and Ronaldo are are the only athletes to have joined the Billionaire club while still active in their sports. However, Ronaldo’s estimated wealth is yet to be fully determined, despite having signed a two-year contract extension at Al-Nassr, worth a reported $665m (£492m) in June.

Federer and Ronaldo are also on a seven-man list of athletes to surpassed $1bn in career pre-tax income while still actively playing their respective sports.

As aforementioned earlier, Woods and James join the duo while Phil Mickelson, Lionel Messi and Floyd Mayweather complete the septuplet.