Tennis is undoubtedly one of the most attractive sports for athletes. The prize pool at the Grand Slams and other top ATP and WTA competitions is growing every year.
Not only the winners but there’s something in it for every player competing in the tournament. The recently concluded Australian Open 2025 announced an all-time high prize pool of AUD 96.5 million (USD 60.29 million), an increase of 12% from last year.
Players will see their earnings increase at each stage of the tournament. Both men’s and women’s singles champions will get AUD 3.5 million (USD 2.19 million) for winning the title. However, with prize money accumulating throughout each round, their total earnings could soar to an impressive AUD 8.2 million (USD 5.13 million).
The prize money for the Australian Open has seen remarkable growth over the past decade. In 2016, the prize pool was AUD 44 million (USD 27.51 million), and by 2025, it has surged by 119%. Even in the last five editions, the prize pool has risen by over 36%.
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However, the route to glory is what makes excelling in this discipline an extremely challenging one. Tennis is one of the most expensive sports and relies on top-class infrastructure which isn’t easily available. History is a testament to the fact that even successful players have been unable to manage their wealth, leading to bankruptcy.
Today, we will explore five such cases where tennis players went bankrupt.
Former singles world number 20 and doubles number 16, Catherine Tanvier always faced huge personal problems, between complicated family relationships and a hidden homosexuality. Once she put her racquets away, the Frenchwoman suffered depression and isolated herself, living off the JSA in her mother’s flat.
To make things even worse, the tax authorities were after her, demanding up to 700,000 euros. However, she made a comeback by publishing one novel and two autobiographies.
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Goran Ivanišević is the only player to win the Wimbledon championship as a wildcard. The former world number two recently coached 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. The Croatian’s bankruptcy story is a rather interesting one. He lost 19 million euros by merely investing in real estate, which is corrupt according to Ivanišević.
“I’m not part of a political party or a lobby…I didn’t corrupt anyone. But in the real estate business, it’s impossible to do anything without bribing people, he said in 2005 in Globus.” The Croatian’s investments sunk like Titanic, and every time he invested in the nation something went wrong. He tried to make up for his situation by playing senior exhibition matches but those earned little money.
A 4-time Grand Slam winner and a 4-time Olympic medalist, Arantxa Sanchez earned a massive 45 million dollars in prize money and was the best player in the world for several years.
Despite that, the Spanish went bankrupt. In December 2009, Arantxa Sánchez was sentenced to pay a fine of 3.5 million euros to the Spanish tax authorities for avoiding paying her taxes between 1989 and 1993. Sanchez blamed her father and brother, who launched a complaint for embezzlement and fraudulent administration with the help of a lawyer and a financial administrator.
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Eleven-time Grand Slam champion, Bjorn Borg had several plans for his life post-retirement. He decided to enter the fashion industry and invested a huge amount of money in it, but not everyone is destined to be an entrepreneur. The Swedish giant was betrayed by his friends and family and the company in which he had invested heavily went bankrupt a few years later.
Borg was banned from entering European casinos, and a few years later he had to put his trophies for sale at auction. His brand was later bought for a price close to 13 million euros, which helped him recover.
Six-time Grand Slam winner Boris Becker was an all-time great and Germany’s best-ever men’s singles player. Becker retired from professional tennis in 1999 and worked as a coach, television commentator, investor, and celebrity poker player.
He blamed laziness and bad advice for his financial problems that eventually led to his bankruptcy, as he owed creditors nearly 50 million pounds, over an unpaid loan of more than 3 million pounds on his estate in Mallorca, Spain.
Becker was deported to Germany two years ago, after serving 8 months in a London prison for illicitly transferring loads of money and hiding 2.5 million pounds in assets after he was declared bankrupt in 2017. In 2024, the German tennis legend was discharged from bankruptcy court in London.
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