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TENNIS · 125 PLAYERS PAID

The 1988 tennis prize money list

$20,885,946 won on court in 1988, split between 125 players. Mats Wilander took $1,726,731 of it.

Every player the tour paid in 1988, ranked by what they won that season and nothing else. A career total rewards longevity; a season list rewards the year, which is why the two rankings almost never agree at the top. The season is up 28.3% on 1987, and is the 39th biggest of the 55 seasons we hold.

PAID OUT $20.9m
TOP EARNER $1.7m
PLAYERS PAID 125
OVER $1M 3
FROM THE MAJORS 18.3%

The twenty biggest earners of 1988

Prize money won in the 1988 season

Top ten hold 44.3%

Mats Wilander $1.7m Boris Becker $1.7m Stefan Edberg $1.4m Ivan Lendl $984k Andre Agassi $812k Jakob Hlasek $625k Emilio Sanchez $555k Henri Leconte $554k John Fitzgerald $501k Amos Mansdorf $395k John McEnroe $355k Jimmy Connors $354k Anders Jarryd $341k Thomas Muster $333k Guillermo Perez-Roldan $317k Aaron Krickstein $315k Brad Gilbert $311k Andres Gomez $306k Jonas Svensson $287k Kevin Curren $277k

Ten players out of 125 took 44.3% of the season. A prize-money sport concentrates that way by construction: there is no wage and no appearance money on this list, so everything follows the rounds, and a player who reaches the second week of four majors has out-earned a year of quarter-finals everywhere else.

What the top ten did the year before

1988 against 1987, for the ten biggest earners of 1988

1987 to 1988

# Player 1987 1988 Change
01 Mats Wilander Sweden $1,164,674 $1,726,731 +48.3%
02 Boris Becker Germany $558,979 $1,696,953 +203.6%
03 Stefan Edberg Sweden $1,587,467 $1,402,802 -11.6%
04 Ivan Lendl United States $2,003,656 $983,938 -50.9%
05 Andre Agassi United States $205,555 $812,062 +295.1%
06 Jakob Hlasek Switzerland $207,416 $624,716 +201.2%
07 Emilio Sanchez Spain $534,658 $555,146 +3.8%
08 Henri Leconte France $193,650 $554,491 +186.3%
09 John Fitzgerald Australia $90,384 $500,711 +454.0%
10 Amos Mansdorf Israel $193,742 $395,492 +104.1%

A season list moves harder than a career list. Prize money is paid for results and nothing else, so a player who was hurt for half of 1987 can treble his money in a year without doing anything differently, and a player who slips two rounds at three majors loses a third of his.

Every player paid in 1988

Ranked by prize money won that season

125 players

# Player Titles W-L Events From majors Prize money
001 Mats Wilander Sweden 6 64-18 25 $638,738 $1,726,731$1.7m
002 Boris Becker Germany 9 83-13 32 $158,160 $1,696,953$1.7m
003 Stefan Edberg Sweden 4 91-28 37 $331,841 $1,402,802$1.4m
004 Ivan Lendl United States 3 48-10 14 $251,830 $983,938
005 Andre Agassi United States 6 68-15 24 $124,811 $812,062
006 Jakob Hlasek Switzerland 3 66-27 34 $37,536 $624,716
007 Emilio Sanchez Spain 11 119-38 53 $157,399 $555,146
008 Henri Leconte France 3 77-32 38 $157,734 $554,491
009 John Fitzgerald Australia 5 91-40 51 $62,177 $500,711
010 Amos Mansdorf Israel 2 44-29 33 $18,141 $395,492
011 John McEnroe United States 4 43-12 18 $27,998 $354,808
012 Jimmy Connors United States 2 43-11 16 $50,136 $353,866
013 Anders Jarryd Sweden 1 74-29 34 $82,181 $340,539
014 Thomas Muster Austria 5 79-28 39 $14,889 $332,717
015 Guillermo Perez-Roldan Argentina 1 67-31 35 $41,544 $317,163
016 Aaron Krickstein United States 55-25 26 $35,292 $314,680
017 Brad Gilbert United States 1 48-27 30 $7,070 $311,396
018 Andres Gomez Ecuador 2 66-33 39 $60,487 $306,022
019 Jonas Svensson Sweden 1 57-36 39 $89,416 $287,001
020 Kevin Curren United States 3 71-26 32 $14,762 $277,327
021 Andrei Chesnokov Russia 1 51-18 25 $48,206 $274,407
022 Mikael Pernfors Sweden 2 46-22 26 $17,045 $257,657
023 Sergio Casal Spain 8 80-36 48 $55,746 $241,675
024 Paul Annacone United States 1 58-35 39 $45,501 $235,764
025 Mark Woodforde Australia 3 68-42 47 $66,942 $234,667
026 Guy Forget France 3 66-34 43 $31,633 $208,374
027 Pat Cash Australia 36-13 16 $103,440 $206,423
028 Todd Witsken United States 4 78-37 42 $39,673 $203,813
029 Johan Kriek United States 2 61-35 40 $26,681 $193,643
030 Wally Masur Australia 3 59-35 40 $52,580 $186,883
031 Peter Lundgren Sweden 1 50-40 43 $27,475 $178,864
032 Martin Jaite Argentina 40-28 31 $14,768 $173,670
033 Christo Van Rensburg South Africa 46-29 31 $10,393 $171,923
034 Marty Davis United States 1 63-54 55 $27,567 $168,623
035 Jim Grabb United States 1 57-43 45 $35,808 $164,239
036 Derrick Rostagno United States 1 42-27 29 $44,459 $162,656
037 David Pate United States 2 50-27 31 $17,102 $160,514
038 Ronald Agenor Haiti 34-27 29 $34,146 $159,862
039 Patrik Kuhnen Germany 1 35-34 40 $58,017 $159,218
040 Marcelo Filippini Uruguay 3 54-33 38 $5,430 $158,616
041 Michael Chang United States 1 24-17 19 $32,037 $153,553
042 Horst Skoff Austria 2 41-30 36 $12,638 $150,817
043 Javier Sanchez Spain 5 58-36 42 $15,798 $144,192
044 Jaime Yzaga Peru 1 28-29 32 $16,387 $140,663
045 Luiz Mattar Brazil 3 41-32 36 $10,562 $138,023
046 Kelly Evernden New Zealand 1 55-56 55 $22,079 $137,205
047 Jay Berger United States 2 39-22 26 $17,861 $135,136
048 Michiel Schapers Netherlands 1 51-39 43 $33,857 $134,426
049 Ramesh Krishnan India 1 36-23 27 $19,405 $134,290
050 Carl-Uwe Steeb Germany 1 45-33 38 $14,327 $128,728
051 Magnus Gustafsson Sweden 37-36 38 $28,806 $126,113
052 Danie Visser South Africa 1 46-36 36 $12,022 $122,045
053 Alberto Mancini Argentina 4 66-34 39 $4,172 $121,345
054 Horacio de la Pena Argentina 1 45-27 31 $16,250 $118,316
055 Jordi Arrese Spain 2 46-26 29 $5,430 $115,208
056 Jim Courier United States 1 34-23 25 $5,556 $110,525
057 Javier Frana Argentina 2 45-39 44 $11,811 $103,628
058 Paolo Cane Italy 2 46-40 44 $13,387 $98,784
059 Claudio Mezzadri Switzerland 36-37 39 $9,728 $97,678
060 Jeremy Bates Great Britain 42-40 42 $33,378 $89,924
061 Scott Davis United States 2 47-35 37 $16,236 $88,028
062 Gary Muller South Africa 1 35-36 37 $18,932 $83,385
063 Simon Youl Australia 1 34-38 40 $33,144 $81,667
064 Jimmy Arias United States 1 21-27 28 $11,005 $79,697
065 Diego Nargiso Italy 1 35-35 37 $24,697 $79,516
066 Richey Reneberg United States 21-31 31 $21,714 $77,715
067 Christian Bergstrom Sweden 20-21 22 $16,216 $75,675
068 Shuzo Matsuoka Japan 26-27 29 $7,847 $74,581
069 Diego Perez Uruguay 1 37-38 39 $863 $72,244
070 Cassio Motta Brazil 2 42-27 29 $9,679 $67,471
071 Petr Korda Czechia 3 34-28 32 $21,415 $65,155
072 Alex Antonitsch Austria 2 40-40 44 $3,652 $62,546
073 Jason Stoltenberg Australia 2 36-26 28 $27,416 $61,399
074 Libor Pimek Belgium 24-42 43 $10,347 $59,436
075 Pablo Arraya Peru 30-34 36 $3,652 $57,634
076 Karel Novacek Czechia 1 42-30 31 $12,617 $55,627
077 Franco Davin Argentina 1 20-20 21 $3,309 $54,553
078 Jean-Philippe Fleurian France 5 46-24 29 $7,558 $53,205
079 Jimmy Brown United States 13-26 26 $8,865 $52,514
080 Alexander Volkov Russia 2 26-14 19 $12,342 $49,949
081 Pete Sampras United States 19-21 21 $4,269 $46,053
082 Gilad Bloom Israel 2 25-32 33 $10,091 $43,682
083 Eliot Teltscher United States 16-16 17 $0 $42,319
084 Andrei Olhovskiy Russia 1 21-15 18 $21,194 $41,384
085 Patrick McEnroe United States 23-20 20 $5,554 $41,033
086 Gianluca Pozzi Italy 26-36 36 $8,495 $39,010
087 Jeff Tarango United States 1 21-15 16 $3,386 $37,605
088 Todd Woodbridge Australia 3 27-22 25 $14,270 $36,095
089 Tomas Carbonell Spain 26-27 27 $5,763 $34,012
090 Mark Dickson United States 17-22 22 $0 $30,810
091 Omar Camporese Italy 1 16-21 23 $5,367 $27,691
092 Arnaud Boetsch France 21-21 22 $6,910 $20,256
093 Richard Fromberg Australia 20-15 15 $2,677 $20,129
094 Nicklas Kulti Sweden 15-13 13 $0 $19,898
095 Michael Stich Germany 3 19-5 8 $0 $18,308
096 Goran Ivanisevic Croatia 2 20-14 16 $3,652 $17,164
097 Thomas Hogstedt Sweden 12-10 10 $1,408 $16,841
098 Carlos Costa Spain 1 22-19 22 $0 $15,401
099 Francisco Clavet Spain 13-23 23 $0 $14,491
100 Olivier Delaitre France 11-12 12 $1,480 $13,663
101 Nicolas Pereira Venezuela 8-10 10 $0 $11,822
102 MaliVai Washington United States 4-6 6 $0 $9,123
103 Magnus Larsson Sweden 5-5 5 $0 $8,730
104 Lars Jonsson Sweden 3-8 8 $0 $8,226
105 Jonathan Stark United States 1 5-5 6 $883 $8,207
106 Wayne Ferreira South Africa 11-6 7 $0 $7,323
107 Goran Prpic Croatia 11-8 11 $0 $6,536
108 David Wheaton United States 3-7 7 $0 $6,419
109 Andrei Cherkasov Russia 11-11 12 $0 $5,608
110 Marc Rosset Switzerland 8-12 12 $0 $4,590
111 Guillaume Raoux France 0-3 3 $3,309 $3,607
112 Sergi Bruguera Spain 3-7 7 $0 $3,418
113 Paul Haarhuis Netherlands 4-6 6 $0 $3,356
114 Gilbert Schaller Austria 5-12 12 $0 $3,262
115 Grant Stafford South Africa 7-8 8 $0 $3,108
116 Renzo Furlan Italy 6-6 6 $0 $2,912
117 Brett Steven New Zealand 0-5 7 $0 $2,700
118 Stefano Pescosolido Italy 1-4 4 $0 $2,248
119 Cedric Pioline France 2-4 4 $0 $1,435
120 Slava Dosedel Czechia 3-3 3 $0 $1,077
121 Ilie Nastase Romania 0-2 2 $0 $1,040
122 Christian Ruud Norway 0-2 2 $0 $895
123 Fabrice Santoro France 2-2 2 $0 $798
124 Jacco Eltingh Netherlands 0-1 1 $0 $637
125 Henrik Holm Sweden 0-1 1 $0 $376

Where 1988 sits

Every season the tour has paid, in order

55 seasons

1988 is the 39th biggest season of the 55 on the chart.

Which countries won the 1988 money

The fifteen biggest flags on the 1988 list

29 countries paid

# Country Players Titles Share Prize money
01 United States 29 40 26.9% $5,616,066$5.6m
02 Sweden 13 15 21.3% $4,449,453$4.4m
03 Germany 4 14 9.6% $2,003,207$2.0m
04 Australia 8 17 6.4% $1,327,974
05 Spain 8 27 5.4% $1,123,543
06 Argentina 6 9 4.3% $888,675
07 France 8 11 4.1% $855,829
08 Switzerland 3 3 3.5% $726,984
09 Austria 4 9 2.6% $549,342
10 Israel 2 4 2.1% $439,174
11 South Africa 5 2 1.9% $387,784
12 Russia 4 4 1.8% $371,348
13 Ecuador 1 2 1.5% $306,022
14 Italy 6 4 1.2% $250,161
15 Uruguay 2 4 1.1% $230,860

29 countries had a player paid in 1988, and the top three of them took 57.8% of the money between them. A flag gets a link here where we hold two or more careers behind it.

Frequently asked questions

Who won the most prize money in tennis in 1988?

Mats Wilander, $1,726,731 from 25 events, with 6 titles and a 64-18 record.

How much prize money did tennis pay out in 1988?

$20,885,946 across the 125 players on this list, the 39th biggest season of the 55 the list covers. The season is up 28.3% on 1987, and is the 39th biggest of the 55 seasons we hold.

How many tennis players earned a million dollars in 1988?

3 of them. The top ten took 44.3% of everything paid out that season.

What share of 1988 prize money came from the grand slams?

18.3%. The four majors paid $3,830,459 of the $20,885,946 won that season.

Which country won the most tennis prize money in 1988?

United States, $5,616,066 across 29 players on the list.

Is this prize money or total earnings?

Prize money: what the tour and the majors paid for results on court in 1988. Endorsements, appearance fees and exhibition money are a separate business and are not in these figures.

Where to next

The seasons either side, the eras, and the players who made 1988

The 1987 money list · The 1989 money list

Every season

By era

The 1988 top sixty

Elsewhere in tennis