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The Swiss tennis great, owner of a men's record
20 Grand Slam singles titles, earned $106.3 million in the last
12 months, including $100 million via endorsements, to move up
four places and become the first player from his sport to top
the list.
Soccer players Cristiano Ronaldo ($105 million), Messi ($104
million) and Neymar ($95.5 million) and American basketball
player LeBron James ($88.2 million) rounded out the top five.
"The coronavirus pandemic triggered salary cuts for soccer stars
Messi and Ronaldo, clearing the way for a tennis player to rank
as the world's highest-paid athlete for the first time," said
Kurt Badenhausen, senior editor at Forbes.
"Roger Federer is the perfect pitchman for companies, resulting
in an unparalleled endorsement portfolio of blue-chip brands
worth $100 million a year for the tennis great."
Japan's Naomi Osaka ($37.4 million), who was ranked 29th on the
list, surpassed fellow tennis player Serena Williams ($36
million) as the world's highest-earning female athlete.
Osaka and Williams were the only women on the list.
Basketball players led all sports with 35 players among the top
100. American football occupied 31 spots, none higher than
six-times Super Bowl champion Tom Brady ($45 million) who was
ranked 25th.
Soccer was the next most represented sport with 14 players,
followed by tennis (six), boxing and mixed marital arts (five),
golf (four), motor racing (three), and baseball and cricket with
one each.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Toby Davis)
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