Grand tennis is not just rackets, balls, and courts. It's big money. Tournament prizes are counted in millions of dollars, but even more — sponsorship contracts. Roger Federer earned more than 1 billion dollars throughout his career, of which only 130 million were prize money. The rest is advertising. We tell you how the sponsorship market in tennis is structured, who pays and how much, and how a beginner player can find a sponsor. Who sponsors tennis Primary categories. Watch brands: Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Richard Mille. They associate themselves with precision, elegance, status. Rolex sponsors all Grand Slam tournaments (except Wimbledon, which has its own sponsor — Slazenger). Richard Mille makes watches for Rafael Nadal and other stars (the cost of watches is from 500,000 dollars). Cars: Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, Kia. Provide cars for tournaments and players. Mercedes is the official car of the Australian Open. Banks: Barclays, BNP Paribas. Insurance companies. Sports brands: Nike, Adidas, Asics, New Balance, Lacoste, Fila. Sponsor equipment (uniforms, shoes, rackets). Racket manufacturers: Wilson, Babolat, Head, Yonex. Drinks: Gatorade, Powerade, Evian, Coca-Cola. Airlines: Emirates (sponsors US Open and several tournaments), Qatar Airways. In Russia, sponsors: Gazprom (sponsored the Kremlin Cup), Rosneft, VTB, Sber. Rarely — individual contracts with players (for example, Medvedev collaborated with Tinkoff). How much top players earn from sponsors Novak Djokovic (as of 2026) has a contract with Lacoste (clothing) — 10 million euros per year. Asics (shoes) — 2 million. Audemars Piguet (watches) — 5 million. Jacob’s Creek (wine) — 1 million. In total, about 20 million euros per year from sponsors only. Rafael Nadal: Nike — 15 million, Richard Mille — 6 million, Kia — 5 million. Daniil Medvedev: Lacoste — 5 million, BMW — 2 million, Tinkoff — 1 million. Arina Sobolenko: Nike — 3 million, Bulgari (watches/jewelry) — 1.5 million, Wilson — 500 thousand. Contracts are ... Read more