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TENNIS · 188 PLAYERS PAID

The 1996 tennis prize money list

$70,150,725 won on court in 1996, split between 188 players. Boris Becker took $4,313,007 of it.

Every player the tour paid in 1996, 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 down 1.2% on 1995, and is the 24th biggest of the 55 seasons we hold.

PAID OUT $70.2m
TOP EARNER $4.3m
PLAYERS PAID 188
OVER $1M 14
FROM THE MAJORS 19.9%

The twenty biggest earners of 1996

Prize money won in the 1996 season

Top ten hold 36.7%

Boris Becker $4.3m Pete Sampras $3.7m Yevgeny Kafelnikov $3.4m Goran Ivanisevic $3.0m Thomas Muster $2.9m Michael Chang $2.0m Richard Krajicek $1.9m Thomas Enqvist $1.7m Andre Agassi $1.6m Mark Woodforde $1.3m Jakob Hlasek $1.1m Todd Woodbridge $1.1m Jim Courier $1.1m Marc Rosset $1.0m Paul Haarhuis $964k Wayne Ferreira $961k MaliVai Washington $871k Todd Martin $869k Tim Henman $853k Marcelo Rios $826k

Ten players out of 188 took 36.7% 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

1996 against 1995, for the ten biggest earners of 1996

1995 to 1996

# Player 1995 1996 Change
01 Boris Becker Germany $3,712,358 $4,313,007 +16.2%
02 Pete Sampras United States $5,415,066 $3,702,919 -31.6%
03 Yevgeny Kafelnikov Russia $1,841,561 $3,363,365 +82.6%
04 Goran Ivanisevic Croatia $3,777,862 $3,007,985 -20.4%
05 Thomas Muster Austria $2,887,979 $2,875,496 -0.4%
06 Michael Chang United States $2,655,870 $2,015,699 -24.1%
07 Richard Krajicek Netherlands $925,822 $1,861,761 +101.1%
08 Thomas Enqvist Sweden $1,229,646 $1,668,547 +35.7%
09 Andre Agassi United States $2,975,738 $1,629,928 -45.2%
10 Mark Woodforde Australia $877,386 $1,332,027 +51.8%

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 1995 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 1996

Ranked by prize money won that season

188 players

# Player Titles W-L Events From majors Prize money
001 Boris Becker Germany 5 53-21 26 $434,937 $4,313,007$4.3m
002 Pete Sampras United States 8 74-12 19 $860,359 $3,702,919$3.7m
003 Yevgeny Kafelnikov Russia 9 139-49 61 $872,508 $3,363,365$3.4m
004 Goran Ivanisevic Croatia 6 109-43 51 $296,980 $3,007,985$3.0m
005 Thomas Muster Austria 7 81-29 39 $154,761 $2,875,496$2.9m
006 Michael Chang United States 3 74-21 25 $541,216 $2,015,699$2.0m
007 Richard Krajicek Netherlands 1 56-35 33 $727,261 $1,861,761$1.9m
008 Thomas Enqvist Sweden 3 69-36 42 $122,787 $1,668,547$1.7m
009 Andre Agassi United States 3 49-18 22 $278,560 $1,629,928$1.6m
010 Mark Woodforde Australia 12 114-35 48 $412,547 $1,332,027
011 Jakob Hlasek Switzerland 1 68-57 58 $260,353 $1,100,883
012 Todd Woodbridge Australia 12 118-34 49 $348,623 $1,080,633
013 Jim Courier United States 1 45-25 27 $149,032 $1,079,352
014 Marc Rosset Switzerland 2 53-42 46 $202,984 $1,003,439
015 Paul Haarhuis Netherlands 3 92-55 58 $174,551 $964,086
016 Wayne Ferreira South Africa 2 74-43 46 $97,210 $961,020
017 MaliVai Washington United States 1 40-31 31 $357,698 $870,898
018 Todd Martin United States 1 77-31 34 $220,448 $868,636
019 Tim Henman Great Britain 56-42 45 $163,537 $853,247
020 Marcelo Rios Chile 1 70-34 39 $67,788 $825,678
021 Albert Costa Spain 3 58-38 42 $51,346 $801,771
022 Michael Stich Germany 1 29-19 22 $387,565 $778,795
023 Jan Siemerink Netherlands 3 75-52 57 $109,016 $753,881
024 Petr Korda Czechia 3 71-38 43 $156,411 $751,361
025 Byron Black Zimbabwe 5 95-50 57 $118,387 $742,892
026 Alex Corretja Spain 55-45 46 $139,533 $701,288
027 Daniel Vacek Czechia 4 77-59 65 $182,826 $662,406
028 Stefan Edberg Sweden 1 64-39 42 $246,687 $651,137
029 Richey Reneberg United States 3 79-47 50 $64,264 $648,390
030 Cedric Pioline France 1 50-26 29 $154,614 $628,229
031 Alex O'Brien United States 2 72-37 43 $101,411 $620,760
032 Guy Forget France 1 63-42 50 $223,123 $590,228
033 Javier Sanchez Spain 3 77-67 70 $136,217 $581,882
034 Jonas Bjorkman Sweden 2 81-53 57 $151,800 $573,005
035 Jason Stoltenberg Australia 2 50-35 39 $218,307 $547,722
036 Alberto Berasategui Spain 6 71-36 42 $41,952 $529,732
037 Jiri Novak Czechia 3 64-47 51 $63,779 $526,794
038 Mark Philippoussis Australia 1 55-39 41 $179,735 $518,440
039 Arnaud Boetsch France 37-40 42 $83,903 $515,033
040 Felix Mantilla Spain 4 71-32 36 $51,086 $497,701
041 Nicklas Kulti Sweden 3 58-41 50 $83,988 $484,768
042 Carlos Moya Spain 1 53-38 40 $46,835 $478,870
043 Bohdan Ulihrach Czechia 40-38 36 $76,557 $473,267
044 Magnus Gustafsson Sweden 3 46-19 22 $67,581 $472,781
045 Daniel Nestor Canada 4 59-32 40 $42,708 $441,276
046 David Prinosil Germany 1 49-52 51 $55,455 $436,760
047 Renzo Furlan Italy 41-34 35 $89,807 $430,687
048 Francisco Clavet Spain 1 45-35 36 $81,923 $423,413
049 Tomas Carbonell Spain 3 63-52 56 $54,574 $418,284
050 Sjeng Schalken Netherlands 1 57-48 52 $81,568 $418,223
051 Andrei Olhovskiy Russia 5 67-43 51 $77,998 $411,363
052 Martin Damm Czechia 1 69-55 56 $57,461 $409,271
053 Andrea Gaudenzi Italy 1 52-48 52 $61,948 $400,953
054 Andrei Medvedev Ukraine 1 40-26 29 $80,558 $398,678
055 Sebastien Lareau Canada 1 65-39 44 $86,339 $389,900
056 Mikael Tillstrom Sweden 30-25 25 $121,379 $365,049
057 Sandon Stolle Australia 2 69-47 50 $72,563 $364,423
058 Magnus Larsson Sweden 33-34 34 $61,049 $358,549
059 Bernd Karbacher Germany 26-30 31 $108,178 $352,123
060 Marc-Kevin Goellner Germany 2 50-41 48 $43,508 $348,873
061 Jacco Eltingh Netherlands 2 42-32 35 $84,170 $343,328
062 Patrick Rafter Australia 1 56-32 34 $147,648 $342,693
063 Jonathan Stark United States 3 53-36 40 $84,622 $339,653
064 Greg Rusedski Great Britain 2 53-33 38 $47,623 $324,433
065 Sergi Bruguera Spain 32-27 27 $41,496 $320,841
066 Guillaume Raoux France 2 52-44 50 $85,897 $310,092
067 Hendrik Dreekmann Germany 1 37-32 34 $56,835 $309,625
068 Chris Woodruff United States 2 47-36 38 $56,008 $308,698
069 Hernan Gumy Argentina 2 40-33 36 $51,146 $299,241
070 Adrian Voinea Romania 31-29 31 $46,014 $290,839
071 Carlos Costa Spain 32-32 33 $39,002 $288,607
072 Vincent Spadea United States 1 40-40 42 $63,749 $269,809
073 Thomas Johansson Sweden 40-31 32 $84,065 $252,145
074 Filip Dewulf Belgium 21-44 44 $44,790 $251,380
075 Jeff Tarango United States 3 51-42 45 $80,324 $249,124
076 Marcos Ondruska South Africa 4 49-47 54 $71,691 $245,542
077 Karol Kucera Slovakia 39-34 40 $77,835 $242,975
078 Jim Grabb United States 2 42-30 40 $59,213 $241,744
079 Karim Alami Morocco 2 42-34 37 $35,279 $239,214
080 Slava Dosedel Czechia 2 34-21 23 $16,496 $236,576
081 Younes El Aynaoui Morocco 20-27 27 $29,074 $235,789
082 Gilbert Schaller Austria 26-34 34 $32,701 $235,086
083 Christian Ruud Norway 1 43-33 34 $39,002 $232,687
084 Javier Frana Argentina 1 45-39 41 $62,357 $227,777
085 Scott Draper Australia 23-40 41 $93,316 $219,746
086 Libor Pimek Belgium 4 47-34 39 $26,895 $219,310
087 Jean-Philippe Fleurian France 1 42-42 44 $83,796 $218,586
088 Alexander Volkov Russia 1 23-29 29 $65,822 $210,107
089 Nicolas Pereira Venezuela 2 38-46 49 $53,803 $208,460
090 Kenneth Carlsen Denmark 1 35-38 38 $40,279 $206,319
091 Stefano Pescosolido Italy 24-40 43 $48,989 $204,770
092 David Wheaton United States 1 33-31 33 $111,580 $199,930
093 Jordi Burillo Spain 1 27-35 36 $10,000 $196,720
094 Andrei Chesnokov Russia 1 32-39 38 $35,279 $190,649
095 Brett Steven New Zealand 31-24 29 $81,527 $189,242
096 Richard Fromberg Australia 2 38-35 39 $33,660 $173,960
097 Nicolas Lapentti Ecuador 1 54-45 52 $47,412 $171,722
098 Hicham Arazi Morocco 3 45-35 43 $24,922 $165,671
099 Fernando Meligeni Brazil 4 45-31 35 $26,145 $163,645
100 Emilio Sanchez Spain 1 46-49 50 $18,624 $162,839
101 Grant Stafford South Africa 5 47-24 32 $24,922 $151,115
102 Carl-Uwe Steeb Germany 11-26 26 $26,145 $144,545
103 Magnus Norman Sweden 2 38-30 34 $22,701 $144,396
104 Shuzo Matsuoka Japan 14-29 30 $41,067 $142,272
105 Marcelo Filippini Uruguay 1 42-29 33 $10,000 $134,710
106 Galo Blanco Spain 1 41-30 31 $19,940 $134,455
107 Fabrice Santoro France 1 44-45 48 $9,490 $132,030
108 Olivier Delaitre France 1 26-33 40 $31,852 $123,277
109 Gianluca Pozzi Italy 2 32-34 39 $24,922 $122,867
110 Leander Paes India 6 72-43 51 $28,945 $115,125
111 Gustavo Kuerten Brazil 5 63-35 47 $9,940 $113,835
112 Jerome Golmard France 1 32-34 38 $22,419 $113,590
113 Diego Nargiso Italy 1 22-38 49 $36,543 $109,768
114 Andrei Cherkasov Russia 1 36-38 45 $6,205 $108,802
115 Omar Camporese Italy 2 29-38 42 $0 $108,565
116 Mariano Zabaleta Argentina 1 33-23 25 $0 $94,224
117 Nicolas Kiefer Germany 19-20 24 $6,205 $87,607
118 Mats Wilander Sweden 10-17 18 $16,496 $85,121
119 Patrick McEnroe United States 14-13 14 $19,491 $80,251
120 Sargis Sargsian Armenia 5 48-28 40 $0 $78,790
121 Gary Muller South Africa 22-22 23 $14,016 $77,561
122 Justin Gimelstob United States 4 28-27 32 $3,000 $77,365
123 Karel Novacek Czechia 1 22-20 21 $12,422 $77,232
124 Patrik Kuhnen Germany 14-20 23 $12,556 $74,788
125 Anders Jarryd Sweden 17-24 24 $11,943 $73,818
126 Andrei Pavel Romania 1 53-46 52 $13,000 $70,959
127 Jordi Arrese Spain 6-20 20 $14,862 $70,607
128 Dominik Hrbaty Slovakia 2 48-29 32 $0 $70,090
129 Bryan Shelton United States 32-45 47 $3,000 $68,685
130 Wayne Arthurs Australia 12-19 22 $9,556 $67,446
131 Christo Van Rensburg South Africa 3 22-14 19 $14,556 $66,931
132 Lars Burgsmuller Germany 20-23 27 $0 $60,696
133 Tommy Haas Germany 15-10 13 $10,000 $59,275
134 Pat Cash Australia 1 16-15 16 $19,811 $58,806
135 Franco Squillari Argentina 18-18 20 $16,496 $57,646
136 Lars Jonsson Sweden 1 18-16 20 $6,205 $54,344
137 Albert Portas Spain 1 33-32 34 $0 $46,154
138 Scott Davis United States 1 12-14 16 $17,478 $45,353
139 Ronald Agenor Haiti 10-23 29 $0 $42,258
140 Max Mirnyi Belarus 2 28-25 36 $0 $40,440
141 Andrew Ilie Australia 8-21 23 $15,339 $37,057
142 Henri Leconte France 1-12 13 $13,285 $36,050
143 Fernando Vicente Spain 21-23 25 $0 $34,460
144 Alberto Martin Spain 26-31 33 $0 $34,450
145 Guillermo Perez-Roldan Argentina 5-12 12 $9,940 $33,625
146 Derrick Rostagno United States 2-5 6 $21,127 $32,327
147 Guillermo Canas Argentina 1 27-25 27 $0 $30,535
148 Ramon Delgado Paraguay 12-16 17 $10,000 $27,835
149 Juan Antonio Marin Costa Rica 1 23-25 32 $0 $26,194
150 Jeremy Bates Great Britain 4-9 10 $13,945 $22,240
151 Henrik Holm Sweden 2-5 6 $6,205 $20,623
152 Franco Davin Argentina 13-18 20 $0 $18,403
153 Aaron Krickstein United States 0-5 5 $6,205 $17,925
154 Rainer Schuettler Germany 9-20 24 $0 $16,034
155 David Pate United States 7-8 8 $1,825 $15,775
156 Jaime Yzaga Peru 3-4 5 $6,205 $15,005
157 Stefan Koubek Austria 3-5 6 $0 $12,535
158 Antony Dupuis France 3-3 7 $0 $11,120
159 Davide Sanguinetti Italy 4-8 13 $0 $11,027
160 Raemon Sluiter Netherlands 0-5 8 $0 $9,791
161 Hyung-Taik Lee South Korea 1 15-14 17 $0 $9,175
162 Horst Skoff Austria 5-6 8 $0 $8,515
163 Paul Goldstein United States 3-4 6 $0 $8,185
164 Jan-Michael Gambill United States 1-5 11 $0 $7,953
165 Ivan Ljubicic Croatia 1-4 4 $0 $7,505
166 Mikael Pernfors Sweden 1-5 5 $0 $6,760
167 Goran Prpic Croatia 0-3 3 $0 $4,770
168 Sebastien Grosjean France 3-2 2 $3,345 $4,600
169 Jimmy Connors United States 0-2 2 $0 $3,550
170 Christian Bergstrom Sweden 0-2 2 $0 $3,520
171 Alex Antonitsch Austria 3-7 7 $0 $3,325
172 David Sanchez Spain 2-7 8 $0 $3,175
173 Arnaud Clement France 2-2 3 $0 $2,549
174 Xavier Malisse Belgium 2-2 3 $0 $2,260
175 Alberto Mancini Argentina 2-3 3 $0 $1,980
176 Ivo Karlovic Croatia 0-3 3 $0 $1,285
177 Jimmy Arias United States 1-3 3 $0 $1,210
178 Nicolas Escude France 0-3 5 $0 $1,140
179 Brad Gilbert United States 0-1 1 $0 $550
180 Kelly Evernden New Zealand 0-1 1 $0 $550
181 Peter Lundgren Sweden 0-1 1 $0 $550
182 Van Winitsky United States 0-1 1 $0 $550
183 Fernando Gonzalez Chile 0-3 2 $0 $350
184 Mariano Puerta Argentina 1-1 1 $0 $315
185 Danie Visser South Africa 0-1 1 $0 $185
186 Michiel Schapers Netherlands 0-1 1 $0 $90
187 Radek Stepanek Czechia 0-1 1 $0 $90
188 Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo Spain 0-1 1 $0 $90

Where 1996 sits

Every season the tour has paid, in order

55 seasons

1996 is the 24th biggest season of the 55 on the chart.

Which countries won the 1996 money

The fifteen biggest flags on the 1996 list

40 countries paid

# Country Players Titles Share Prize money
01 United States 27 39 19.1% $13,405,219$13.4m
02 Germany 12 10 10.0% $6,982,128$7.0m
03 Spain 19 25 8.2% $5,725,339$5.7m
04 Sweden 16 15 7.4% $5,215,113$5.2m
05 Australia 11 33 6.8% $4,742,953$4.7m
06 Netherlands 7 10 6.2% $4,351,160$4.4m
07 Russia 5 17 6.1% $4,284,286$4.3m
08 Czechia 8 14 4.5% $3,136,997$3.1m
09 Austria 5 7 4.5% $3,134,957$3.1m
10 Croatia 4 6 4.3% $3,021,545$3.0m
11 France 13 8 3.8% $2,686,524$2.7m
12 Switzerland 2 3 3.0% $2,104,322$2.1m
13 South Africa 6 14 2.1% $1,502,354$1.5m
14 Italy 7 6 2.0% $1,388,637$1.4m
15 Great Britain 3 2 1.7% $1,199,920

40 countries had a player paid in 1996, and the top three of them took 37.2% 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 1996?

Boris Becker, $4,313,007 from 26 events, with 5 titles and a 53-21 record.

How much prize money did tennis pay out in 1996?

$70,150,725 across the 188 players on this list, the 24th biggest season of the 55 the list covers. The season is down 1.2% on 1995, and is the 24th biggest of the 55 seasons we hold.

How many tennis players earned a million dollars in 1996?

14 of them. The top ten took 36.7% of everything paid out that season.

What share of 1996 prize money came from the grand slams?

19.9%. The four majors paid $13,940,770 of the $70,150,725 won that season.

Which country won the most tennis prize money in 1996?

United States, $13,405,219 across 27 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 1996. 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 1996

The 1995 money list · The 1997 money list

Every season

By era

The 1996 top sixty

Elsewhere in tennis