Medvedev breaks Russian money record
World number one tennis player Daniil Medvedev has been confirmed as Russia's highest-paid men's tennis player of all time with earnings of $23,893,002.
Reaching the final of the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships tournament last Sunday, where he suffered a shock defeat to Tim van Rijthoven, helped Medvedev reach the figure.
With the accomplishment, he surpassed compatriot and early 2000s great Yevgeny Kafelnikov who earned $23,883,797 while winning the 1996 French Open and 1999 Australian Open before going on to claim gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Medvedev may have surpassed Kafelnikov in earnings but still trails him in Grand Slam wins after reaching three finals in his career thus far.
Between a maiden triumph at the US Open last autumn where he denied Novak Djokovic the chance to complete a calendar Grand Slam, Medvedev has lost to Rafael Nadal twice in the US Open final in 2021 and the Australian Open final at the turn of 2022.
Despite Nadal clinching a 14th French Open title just over a week ago, though, Medvedev reclaimed the world number one spot from Djokovic on Monday and now has extra reason to celebrate given his revealed status as Russia's highest-earning player.
With the ATP stripping Wimbledon of ranking points as part of a fallout over the tournament's decision to ban Russian players as a response to the military operation in Ukraine, Medvedev is also likely to keep top spot over the summer before defending his US Open crown at Flushing Meadows, assuming he is cleared to compete.
Rounding off the top five of Russia's highest-earning male players of all time are third-placed Nikolay Davydenko ($16.18 million), Marat Safin ($14.37 million), and Mikhail Youzhny ($14.26 million).
With all these other stars already retired, however, the only real threat to Medvedev's legacy in this respect as things stand is sixth-placed, current world number eight Andrey Rublev on $12.05 million.
While Medvedev's earnings of nearly $24 million are impressive in their own right, they still pale in comparison to those that Russian female great Maria Sharapova took home before retiring in 2020.
Earning $38,777,962 on court in a 19-year career, which is the fourth best across all women, Forbes estimates Sharapova made $325 million in total with endorsements and appearances, which puts her second only to generational rival Serena Williams on $350 million.
