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TENNIS · 151 PLAYERS PAID

The 1990 tennis prize money list

$37,590,108 won on court in 1990, split between 151 players. Pete Sampras took $2,900,057 of it.

Every player the tour paid in 1990, 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 49.9% on 1989, and is the 37th biggest of the 55 seasons we hold.

PAID OUT $37.6m
TOP EARNER $2.9m
PLAYERS PAID 151
OVER $1M 7
FROM THE MAJORS 17.5%

The twenty biggest earners of 1990

Prize money won in the 1990 season

Top ten hold 39.8%

Pete Sampras $2.9m Stefan Edberg $2.1m Andre Agassi $1.7m Boris Becker $1.6m Brad Gilbert $1.6m Ivan Lendl $1.4m Goran Ivanisevic $1.0m Andres Gomez $973k Michael Chang $866k David Wheaton $791k Emilio Sanchez $734k Thomas Muster $705k Jakob Hlasek $662k Aaron Krickstein $650k Guy Forget $638k Jonas Svensson $542k Henri Leconte $536k Jim Courier $437k Andrei Chesnokov $424k Scott Davis $422k

Ten players out of 151 took 39.8% 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

1990 against 1989, for the ten biggest earners of 1990

1989 to 1990

# Player 1989 1990 Change
01 Pete Sampras United States $157,615 $2,900,057 +1740.0%
02 Stefan Edberg Sweden $1,661,491 $2,095,901 +26.1%
03 Andre Agassi United States $478,901 $1,741,382 +263.6%
04 Boris Becker Germany $2,216,823 $1,587,482 -28.4%
05 Brad Gilbert United States $900,848 $1,555,733 +72.7%
06 Ivan Lendl United States $2,344,367 $1,445,742 -38.3%
07 Goran Ivanisevic Croatia $194,513 $1,020,945 +424.9%
08 Andres Gomez Ecuador $285,514 $972,613 +240.7%
09 Michael Chang United States $682,130 $866,070 +27.0%
10 David Wheaton United States $122,043 $791,240 +548.3%

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 1989 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 1990

Ranked by prize money won that season

151 players

# Player Titles W-L Events From majors Prize money
001 Pete Sampras United States 4 69-32 35 $372,255 $2,900,057$2.9m
002 Stefan Edberg Sweden 7 94-22 30 $482,013 $2,095,901$2.1m
003 Andre Agassi United States 4 55-13 16 $360,000 $1,741,382$1.7m
004 Boris Becker Germany 6 105-25 31 $302,034 $1,587,482$1.6m
005 Brad Gilbert United States 3 65-26 28 $61,754 $1,555,733$1.6m
006 Ivan Lendl United States 5 72-17 21 $336,895 $1,445,742$1.4m
007 Goran Ivanisevic Croatia 2 85-45 50 $200,540 $1,020,945
008 Andres Gomez Ecuador 4 71-41 43 $395,686 $972,613
009 Michael Chang United States 1 48-24 25 $87,790 $866,070
010 David Wheaton United States 2 56-31 33 $144,455 $791,240
011 Emilio Sanchez Spain 9 116-42 52 $112,702 $734,286
012 Thomas Muster Austria 5 71-27 35 $126,090 $705,267
013 Jakob Hlasek Switzerland 7 96-44 52 $54,628 $661,671
014 Aaron Krickstein United States 51-26 27 $74,378 $650,183
015 Guy Forget France 7 100-40 50 $68,613 $638,358
016 Jonas Svensson Sweden 1 49-27 29 $130,728 $541,745
017 Henri Leconte France 39-23 25 $78,915 $535,590
018 Jim Courier United States 1 67-38 39 $59,880 $437,390
019 Andrei Chesnokov Russia 2 54-22 25 $45,166 $423,863
020 Scott Davis United States 6 83-43 49 $36,440 $422,390
021 Andrei Cherkasov Russia 1 45-38 37 $86,069 $392,171
022 John McEnroe United States 1 44-18 19 $108,755 $372,505
023 Kevin Curren United States 1 54-34 35 $84,785 $357,542
024 Jay Berger United States 46-24 25 $31,854 $349,354
025 David Pate United States 5 75-37 42 $26,228 $342,637
026 Sergi Bruguera Spain 2 59-39 40 $46,494 $342,423
027 Petr Korda Czechia 1 67-53 55 $73,138 $331,404
028 Danie Visser South Africa 4 57-22 26 $168,538 $322,665
029 Guillermo Perez-Roldan Argentina 2 67-36 38 $26,000 $317,538
030 Richey Reneberg United States 66-48 48 $31,238 $307,336
031 Karel Novacek Czechia 1 52-58 59 $68,635 $282,730
032 Marc Rosset Switzerland 1 47-39 39 $36,388 $282,048
033 Sergio Casal Spain 7 59-23 34 $79,612 $281,201
034 Michael Stich Germany 4 68-45 52 $48,830 $280,823
035 Martin Jaite Argentina 2 50-37 38 $36,461 $271,498
036 Gary Muller South Africa 2 63-49 51 $41,036 $261,675
037 Alexander Volkov Russia 39-34 32 $54,321 $259,417
038 Derrick Rostagno United States 1 29-29 30 $30,578 $257,295
039 Todd Woodbridge Australia 2 55-39 43 $53,143 $253,992
040 Goran Prpic Croatia 3 44-32 34 $9,500 $251,018
041 Todd Witsken United States 67-43 43 $35,580 $250,624
042 Horst Skoff Austria 4 62-38 42 $0 $247,239
043 Amos Mansdorf Israel 1 43-27 30 $58,121 $246,286
044 Ronald Agenor Haiti 2 41-31 34 $15,695 $243,950
045 Christian Bergstrom Sweden 21-21 21 $67,588 $243,688
046 Wally Masur Australia 2 61-39 44 $33,090 $243,264
047 Peter Lundgren Sweden 1 38-32 35 $24,340 $241,333
048 Paul Haarhuis Netherlands 1 59-56 57 $61,860 $238,564
049 Jim Grabb United States 1 50-35 36 $52,918 $237,610
050 Richard Fromberg Australia 3 49-35 38 $23,663 $228,987
051 Javier Sanchez Spain 3 65-45 48 $45,157 $226,368
052 Magnus Gustafsson Sweden 29-23 24 $32,000 $224,554
053 Jordi Arrese Spain 2 42-39 42 $26,195 $218,212
054 Omar Camporese Italy 2 65-42 43 $20,007 $214,402
055 Christo Van Rensburg South Africa 2 51-41 43 $51,182 $210,538
056 Alex Antonitsch Austria 1 45-43 44 $56,985 $208,090
057 Luiz Mattar Brazil 2 63-46 49 $38,964 $200,016
058 Franco Davin Argentina 1 44-32 34 $29,166 $197,673
059 Tomas Carbonell Spain 2 60-47 48 $42,136 $195,984
060 Mats Wilander Sweden 1 27-20 21 $55,195 $187,435
061 Anders Jarryd Sweden 4 46-28 33 $39,839 $184,518
062 Carl-Uwe Steeb Germany 29-26 26 $8,195 $184,050
063 Jean-Philippe Fleurian France 34-55 55 $43,988 $180,721
064 Jason Stoltenberg Australia 3 50-35 39 $49,122 $171,467
065 Paul Annacone United States 1 39-35 37 $68,844 $170,610
066 Marcelo Filippini Uruguay 1 42-40 42 $16,245 $168,732
067 Patrick McEnroe United States 1 44-31 33 $38,094 $163,283
068 Jimmy Arias United States 35-34 35 $20,897 $156,709
069 Kelly Evernden New Zealand 1 44-47 49 $19,838 $155,598
070 Patrik Kuhnen Germany 32-40 40 $32,186 $152,484
071 Horacio de la Pena Argentina 3 47-38 42 $4,850 $149,656
072 Gilad Bloom Israel 1 43-38 40 $51,758 $148,399
073 Cassio Motta Brazil 2 70-46 48 $19,379 $148,027
074 Jeremy Bates Great Britain 3 47-44 47 $38,120 $147,543
075 Alberto Mancini Argentina 1 25-28 31 $16,245 $140,732
076 Bryan Shelton United States 1 41-45 46 $26,990 $138,602
077 Pat Cash Australia 3 36-21 26 $47,652 $137,914
078 Thomas Hogstedt Sweden 16-32 32 $19,186 $131,666
079 Jaime Yzaga Peru 28-30 30 $21,430 $131,300
080 Ramesh Krishnan India 2 28-23 25 $24,663 $128,898
081 Fabrice Santoro France 1 31-29 30 $30,707 $127,027
082 Mark Woodforde Australia 24-23 25 $36,888 $125,842
083 Magnus Larsson Sweden 2 34-24 26 $11,491 $120,972
084 John Fitzgerald Australia 30-33 35 $15,336 $117,274
085 Francisco Clavet Spain 1 32-48 50 $9,250 $115,960
086 Diego Nargiso Italy 1 37-41 42 $12,697 $112,085
087 Nicolas Pereira Venezuela 1 29-46 48 $21,652 $111,935
088 Simon Youl Australia 2 35-43 46 $42,445 $110,037
089 Guillaume Raoux France 3 24-20 23 $19,213 $108,245
090 Michiel Schapers Netherlands 2 40-37 40 $23,056 $107,957
091 Nicklas Kulti Sweden 33-27 27 $18,000 $106,809
092 Diego Perez Uruguay 31-36 39 $25,991 $105,905
093 MaliVai Washington United States 22-25 26 $24,929 $105,609
094 Paolo Cane Italy 28-28 30 $3,000 $100,765
095 Olivier Delaitre France 3 30-33 36 $34,525 $94,126
096 Lars Jonsson Sweden 24-32 32 $24,186 $93,936
097 Javier Frana Argentina 3 45-28 34 $24,604 $92,029
098 Jeff Tarango United States 1 31-33 35 $10,686 $85,191
099 Renzo Furlan Italy 1 37-33 34 $0 $84,581
100 Cedric Pioline France 1 20-27 28 $11,350 $76,243
101 Carlos Costa Spain 2 36-33 36 $7,341 $71,550
102 Stefano Pescosolido Italy 34-45 46 $5,000 $70,220
103 Shuzo Matsuoka Japan 16-18 18 $20,665 $66,355
104 Gianluca Pozzi Italy 27-40 40 $9,759 $55,678
105 Henrik Holm Sweden 3 43-28 31 $7,486 $55,267
106 Jimmy Brown United States 18-20 20 $3,000 $53,355
107 Wayne Ferreira South Africa 1 35-23 24 $19,490 $49,475
108 Andrei Olhovskiy Russia 2 36-21 24 $0 $46,906
109 Marty Davis United States 13-21 22 $7,402 $45,633
110 Jan Siemerink Netherlands 2 32-21 23 $0 $44,482
111 Mikael Pernfors Sweden 6-7 7 $31,195 $42,845
112 Libor Pimek Belgium 1 31-31 33 $5,609 $40,685
113 Arnaud Boetsch France 13-15 16 $18,845 $38,919
114 Jacco Eltingh Netherlands 2 36-30 32 $0 $38,051
115 Slava Dosedel Czechia 2 33-26 28 $0 $37,207
116 Pablo Arraya Peru 32-26 26 $0 $35,017
117 Richard Krajicek Netherlands 2 26-9 11 $0 $33,492
118 Todd Martin United States 8-10 10 $7,807 $27,544
119 Daniel Vacek Czechia 3 21-13 16 $0 $24,150
120 Claudio Mezzadri Switzerland 7-13 13 $0 $17,357
121 Marcos Ondruska South Africa 3-5 5 $0 $16,805
122 Sandon Stolle Australia 12-13 13 $0 $16,405
123 Jimmy Connors United States 0-3 3 $0 $13,015
124 Brett Steven New Zealand 1 15-10 12 $0 $12,218
125 Grant Stafford South Africa 11-8 8 $0 $12,155
126 Gilbert Schaller Austria 6-18 18 $0 $9,706
127 Andrea Gaudenzi Italy 0-8 9 $0 $8,047
128 Jordi Burillo Spain 5-8 8 $0 $7,759
129 Eliot Teltscher United States 1-4 4 $0 $7,685
130 Johan Kriek United States 6-4 4 $0 $7,465
131 Martin Damm Czechia 1 5-3 4 $0 $6,275
132 Thomas Enqvist Sweden 2-2 2 $0 $5,270
133 Karim Alami Morocco 1-6 6 $0 $3,853
134 Wayne Arthurs Australia 5-3 3 $0 $3,100
135 Andrei Medvedev Ukraine 0-1 1 $0 $3,090
136 Jonathan Stark United States 0-1 1 $0 $2,340
137 Bernd Karbacher Germany 2-4 4 $0 $2,011
138 Younes El Aynaoui Morocco 0-3 3 $0 $2,002
139 Byron Black Zimbabwe 1-1 1 $0 $1,920
140 Filip Dewulf Belgium 2-2 2 $0 $1,647
141 Fernando Meligeni Brazil 2-3 3 $0 $1,580
142 Greg Rusedski Great Britain 3-4 4 $0 $1,572
143 David Prinosil Germany 1-3 3 $0 $1,562
144 Sebastien Lareau Canada 0-2 2 $0 $1,502
145 Daniel Nestor Canada 0-1 1 $0 $1,220
146 Van Winitsky United States 0-1 1 $0 $820
147 Patrick Rafter Australia 1-2 2 $0 $520
148 Jonas Bjorkman Sweden 1 $0 $365
149 Alex Corretja Spain 1 $0 $255
150 Hernan Gumy Argentina 0-1 1 $0 $182
151 Alberto Berasategui Spain 1 $0 $140

Where 1990 sits

Every season the tour has paid, in order

55 seasons

1990 is the 37th biggest season of the 55 on the chart.

Which countries won the 1990 money

The fifteen biggest flags on the 1990 list

31 countries paid

# Country Players Titles Share Prize money
01 United States 31 39 37.9% $14,262,951$14.3m
02 Sweden 15 19 11.4% $4,276,304$4.3m
03 Germany 6 10 5.9% $2,208,412$2.2m
04 Spain 11 28 5.8% $2,194,138$2.2m
05 France 8 15 4.8% $1,799,229$1.8m
06 Australia 11 15 3.7% $1,408,802$1.4m
07 Croatia 2 5 3.4% $1,271,963
08 Austria 4 10 3.1% $1,170,302
09 Argentina 7 12 3.1% $1,169,308
10 Russia 4 5 3.0% $1,122,357
11 Ecuador 1 4 2.6% $972,613
12 Switzerland 3 8 2.6% $961,076
13 South Africa 6 9 2.3% $873,313
14 Czechia 5 8 1.8% $681,766
15 Italy 7 4 1.7% $645,778

31 countries had a player paid in 1990, and the top three of them took 55.2% 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 1990?

Pete Sampras, $2,900,057 from 35 events, with 4 titles and a 69-32 record.

How much prize money did tennis pay out in 1990?

$37,590,108 across the 151 players on this list, the 37th biggest season of the 55 the list covers. The season is up 49.9% on 1989, and is the 37th biggest of the 55 seasons we hold.

How many tennis players earned a million dollars in 1990?

7 of them. The top ten took 39.8% of everything paid out that season.

What share of 1990 prize money came from the grand slams?

17.5%. The four majors paid $6,593,533 of the $37,590,108 won that season.

Which country won the most tennis prize money in 1990?

United States, $14,262,951 across 31 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 1990. 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 1990

The 1989 money list · The 1991 money list

Every season

By era

The 1990 top sixty

Elsewhere in tennis