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TENNIS · 183 PLAYERS PAID

The 1997 tennis prize money list

$72,222,456 won on court in 1997, split between 183 players. Pete Sampras took $6,498,311 of it.

Every player the tour paid in 1997, 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 3.0% on 1996, and is the 22th biggest of the 55 seasons we hold.

PAID OUT $72.2m
TOP EARNER $6.5m
PLAYERS PAID 183
OVER $1M 18
FROM THE MAJORS 20.0%

The twenty biggest earners of 1997

Prize money won in the 1997 season

Top ten hold 35.1%

Pete Sampras $6.5m Yevgeny Kafelnikov $3.2m Patrick Rafter $2.9m Michael Chang $2.5m Thomas Muster $2.2m Jonas Bjorkman $2.0m Gustavo Kuerten $1.6m Petr Korda $1.5m Greg Rusedski $1.5m Goran Ivanisevic $1.5m Richard Krajicek $1.4m Marcelo Rios $1.4m Todd Woodbridge $1.3m Sergi Bruguera $1.2m Alex Corretja $1.2m Mark Woodforde $1.2m Carlos Moya $1.1m Felix Mantilla $1.1m Cedric Pioline $1000k Mark Philippoussis $904k

Ten players out of 183 took 35.1% 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

1997 against 1996, for the ten biggest earners of 1997

1996 to 1997

# Player 1996 1997 Change
01 Pete Sampras United States $3,702,919 $6,498,311 +75.5%
02 Yevgeny Kafelnikov Russia $3,363,365 $3,207,758 -4.6%
03 Patrick Rafter Australia $342,693 $2,923,519 +753.1%
04 Michael Chang United States $2,015,699 $2,541,830 +26.1%
05 Thomas Muster Austria $2,875,496 $2,166,590 -24.7%
06 Jonas Bjorkman Sweden $573,005 $1,950,375 +240.4%
07 Gustavo Kuerten Brazil $113,835 $1,586,753 +1293.9%
08 Petr Korda Czechia $751,361 $1,515,483 +101.7%
09 Greg Rusedski Great Britain $324,433 $1,515,473 +367.1%
10 Goran Ivanisevic Croatia $3,007,985 $1,458,257 -51.5%

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 1996 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 1997

Ranked by prize money won that season

183 players

# Player Titles W-L Events From majors Prize money
001 Pete Sampras United States 8 67-14 23 $1,230,985 $6,498,311$6.5m
002 Yevgeny Kafelnikov Russia 6 102-46 52 $434,688 $3,207,758$3.2m
003 Patrick Rafter Australia 3 112-48 51 $906,014 $2,923,519$2.9m
004 Michael Chang United States 5 66-23 28 $345,110 $2,541,830$2.5m
005 Thomas Muster Austria 2 57-25 29 $150,435 $2,166,590$2.2m
006 Jonas Bjorkman Sweden 4 119-47 55 $337,730 $1,950,375$2.0m
007 Gustavo Kuerten Brazil 5 74-42 50 $700,318 $1,586,753$1.6m
008 Petr Korda Czechia 1 68-36 39 $207,958 $1,515,483$1.5m
009 Greg Rusedski Great Britain 2 62-28 31 $458,013 $1,515,473$1.5m
010 Goran Ivanisevic Croatia 5 83-39 47 $117,067 $1,458,257$1.5m
011 Richard Krajicek Netherlands 3 59-20 24 $165,509 $1,434,564$1.4m
012 Marcelo Rios Chile 1 75-39 44 $243,260 $1,397,445$1.4m
013 Todd Woodbridge Australia 6 97-33 43 $533,132 $1,335,918
014 Sergi Bruguera Spain 55-29 28 $384,978 $1,227,428
015 Alex Corretja Spain 4 74-40 44 $88,447 $1,182,807
016 Mark Woodforde Australia 5 88-42 50 $446,061 $1,166,627
017 Carlos Moya Spain 1 65-33 34 $271,895 $1,137,400
018 Felix Mantilla Spain 6 62-26 32 $119,713 $1,105,593
019 Cedric Pioline France 1 40-30 30 $422,571 $999,701
020 Mark Philippoussis Australia 4 80-32 36 $117,785 $904,211
021 Albert Costa Spain 3 52-25 28 $94,949 $864,684
022 Paul Haarhuis Netherlands 6 93-46 54 $193,677 $834,450
023 Tim Henman Great Britain 3 62-33 38 $135,986 $802,746
024 Daniel Vacek Czechia 5 66-47 54 $357,896 $786,606
025 Andrei Medvedev Ukraine 1 38-30 34 $115,188 $731,068
026 Boris Becker Germany 24-17 19 $98,313 $674,245
027 Chris Woodruff United States 1 41-35 36 $87,217 $631,647
028 Fabrice Santoro France 2 75-52 56 $48,385 $626,435
029 Alex O'Brien United States 2 77-57 58 $115,903 $616,829
030 Alberto Berasategui Spain 4 76-41 45 $45,675 $597,985
031 Jim Courier United States 3 44-26 32 $61,497 $588,084
032 Marc Rosset Switzerland 2 45-43 47 $88,919 $584,879
033 Jacco Eltingh Netherlands 6 70-25 36 $140,523 $572,266
034 Thomas Enqvist Sweden 2 53-27 31 $31,260 $566,615
035 Javier Sanchez Spain 4 79-59 63 $64,603 $562,048
036 Jonathan Stark United States 1 68-51 51 $103,838 $550,298
037 Magnus Norman Sweden 1 51-36 38 $135,378 $541,933
038 Martin Damm Czechia 3 58-48 50 $113,713 $526,568
039 Bohdan Ulihrach Czechia 1 36-33 32 $38,134 $526,454
040 Magnus Larsson Sweden 1 52-29 30 $127,277 $515,772
041 Karol Kucera Slovakia 1 44-35 39 $41,178 $492,333
042 Filip Dewulf Belgium 1 30-35 38 $192,479 $492,104
043 Marc-Kevin Goellner Germany 1 52-55 58 $48,093 $474,503
044 Daniel Nestor Canada 3 67-43 50 $72,010 $472,690
045 Jan Siemerink Netherlands 1 38-53 52 $71,785 $464,903
046 Leander Paes India 9 79-45 57 $110,154 $464,059
047 Wayne Ferreira South Africa 45-36 37 $150,566 $456,171
048 Francisco Clavet Spain 2 48-28 30 $43,306 $422,936
049 Nicolas Kiefer Germany 1 32-26 28 $100,979 $417,269
050 Jeff Tarango United States 1 56-55 56 $93,125 $411,650
051 Hicham Arazi Morocco 1 42-40 42 $112,461 $397,741
052 Nicklas Kulti Sweden 3 62-36 48 $142,680 $395,400
053 David Prinosil Germany 1 39-48 48 $33,407 $378,727
054 Byron Black Zimbabwe 59-50 54 $79,259 $372,634
055 Michael Stich Germany 1 22-19 21 $186,559 $370,474
056 Jiri Novak Czechia 3 57-39 42 $61,945 $369,785
057 Thomas Johansson Sweden 2 36-30 32 $47,847 $363,967
058 Magnus Gustafsson Sweden 1 29-21 21 $59,247 $360,912
059 Guillaume Raoux France 41-48 50 $85,003 $359,523
060 Sebastien Lareau Canada 2 56-42 47 $94,386 $356,501
061 Tommy Haas Germany 31-24 25 $42,206 $350,926
062 Brett Steven New Zealand 4 62-37 42 $83,424 $324,380
063 Mikael Tillstrom Sweden 3 34-28 32 $37,271 $314,551
064 Sjeng Schalken Netherlands 1 28-52 52 $50,569 $312,824
065 Andre Agassi United States 1 25-15 19 $45,000 $312,332
066 Sandon Stolle Australia 53-40 41 $68,742 $311,877
067 Fernando Meligeni Brazil 5 70-46 51 $61,875 $306,665
068 Richey Reneberg United States 1 34-37 38 $96,719 $305,644
069 Slava Dosedel Czechia 1 38-30 31 $48,754 $301,844
070 Dominik Hrbaty Slovakia 1 48-40 44 $61,497 $295,622
071 Albert Portas Spain 1 47-35 37 $36,336 $293,996
072 Karim Alami Morocco 1 43-42 44 $26,734 $290,249
073 Christian Ruud Norway 30-27 31 $66,497 $288,557
074 Sargis Sargsian Armenia 1 39-40 43 $67,847 $283,502
075 Grant Stafford South Africa 50-46 46 $61,661 $276,636
076 Richard Fromberg Australia 3 34-31 38 $46,178 $276,008
077 Marcelo Filippini Uruguay 2 42-34 39 $35,237 $275,202
078 Scott Draper Australia 30-27 30 $86,885 $274,925
079 Tomas Carbonell Spain 2 45-48 48 $29,811 $272,356
080 Nicolas Lapentti Ecuador 2 65-54 59 $49,903 $266,758
081 Justin Gimelstob United States 1 41-48 50 $63,050 $261,986
082 Vincent Spadea United States 2 35-42 44 $33,237 $259,172
083 Carlos Costa Spain 2 41-36 40 $33,134 $247,024
084 Olivier Delaitre France 2 37-37 44 $31,946 $246,286
085 Hendrik Dreekmann Germany 1 26-28 29 $43,940 $245,240
086 Arnaud Boetsch France 20-31 31 $73,114 $240,654
087 Andrea Gaudenzi Italy 1 53-50 51 $18,766 $233,766
088 Galo Blanco Spain 29-31 33 $101,924 $232,314
089 Kenneth Carlsen Denmark 39-36 38 $42,271 $231,236
090 Hernan Gumy Argentina 26-33 33 $45,641 $224,016
091 Renzo Furlan Italy 23-30 32 $54,881 $222,946
092 Andrei Olhovskiy Russia 2 43-40 47 $37,102 $220,592
093 Marcos Ondruska South Africa 1 38-47 51 $70,823 $209,388
094 Jason Stoltenberg Australia 1 27-20 21 $57,796 $202,016
095 Jim Grabb United States 27-27 33 $89,883 $198,083
096 Jordi Burillo Spain 3 49-42 48 $16,734 $170,989
097 Todd Martin United States 1 19-10 11 $15,000 $161,050
098 Jerome Golmard France 1 35-32 37 $48,306 $157,862
099 Adrian Voinea Romania 16-26 28 $46,178 $154,763
100 Arnaud Clement France 33-31 34 $41,420 $150,530
101 Alberto Martin Spain 42-43 44 $9,700 $150,095
102 Andrei Pavel Romania 27-37 41 $50,340 $148,755
103 Nicolas Escude France 1 24-17 19 $44,602 $144,742
104 Gilbert Schaller Austria 28-31 33 $37,675 $141,285
105 Libor Pimek Belgium 1 36-34 36 $11,540 $136,330
106 Davide Sanguinetti Italy 3 49-38 45 $15,000 $131,326
107 Juan Antonio Marin Costa Rica 41-37 38 $20,537 $130,479
108 Franco Squillari Argentina 2 35-26 30 $9,700 $106,820
109 David Wheaton United States 15-17 18 $10,000 $106,605
110 Alexander Volkov Russia 13-16 22 $36,637 $106,357
111 Andrei Cherkasov Russia 2 34-41 49 $7,034 $104,476
112 Pat Cash Australia 1 13-23 26 $32,288 $98,938
113 Javier Frana Argentina 1 21-25 27 $43,145 $98,760
114 Bernd Karbacher Germany 18-23 26 $28,512 $98,542
115 Fernando Vicente Spain 28-32 37 $0 $97,027
116 Gianluca Pozzi Italy 3 41-25 33 $0 $94,766
117 Jean-Philippe Fleurian France 2 24-24 33 $21,017 $93,581
118 Patrick McEnroe United States 7-21 21 $29,614 $82,619
119 Max Mirnyi Belarus 2 32-29 40 $11,540 $82,169
120 Diego Nargiso Italy 1 32-28 35 $2,032 $81,650
121 Ramon Delgado Paraguay 1 46-30 37 $16,100 $80,115
122 Sebastien Grosjean France 1 25-22 27 $12,966 $76,186
123 Omar Camporese Italy 18-32 39 $0 $74,308
124 Henrik Holm Sweden 2 40-27 29 $16,081 $73,976
125 Bryan Shelton United States 1 18-24 30 $12,066 $70,316
126 Nicolas Pereira Venezuela 9-28 36 $29,111 $68,073
127 Guillermo Canas Argentina 2 40-32 39 $0 $63,936
128 Rainer Schuettler Germany 2 38-28 38 $0 $63,539
129 Gary Muller South Africa 1 16-19 20 $15,483 $63,148
130 Scott Davis United States 16-17 17 $17,019 $54,834
131 Lars Jonsson Sweden 10-25 29 $7,034 $53,915
132 Wayne Arthurs Australia 3 27-16 23 $14,717 $53,647
133 MaliVai Washington United States 7-5 6 $31,260 $53,210
134 Jan-Michael Gambill United States 1 16-19 25 $10,000 $50,952
135 Stefan Koubek Austria 26-22 24 $0 $50,382
136 Stefano Pescosolido Italy 1 33-28 36 $0 $48,873
137 Mariano Zabaleta Argentina 12-21 22 $9,700 $48,835
138 Mariano Puerta Argentina 3 47-27 30 $0 $45,110
139 Andrei Chesnokov Russia 1 15-8 9 $7,034 $44,229
140 Lars Burgsmuller Germany 1 38-28 32 $0 $40,990
141 Guy Forget France 1-10 10 $10,276 $39,451
142 Younes El Aynaoui Morocco 1 13-10 13 $0 $39,030
143 Marat Safin Russia 1 13-10 11 $0 $34,775
144 Emilio Sanchez Spain 7-18 18 $8,810 $34,515
145 Ivan Ljubicic Croatia 7-10 12 $0 $29,909
146 Shuzo Matsuoka Japan 4-9 13 $0 $29,360
147 Christo Van Rensburg South Africa 1 7-14 15 $12,378 $21,823
148 Horst Skoff Austria 15-8 10 $0 $17,159
149 Paul Goldstein United States 6-8 10 $0 $11,880
150 Nicolas Massu Chile 8-11 11 $0 $9,700
151 Lleyton Hewitt Australia 4-3 3 $7,034 $7,919
152 David Sanchez Spain 2-6 8 $0 $7,905
153 Paolo Cane Italy 2-7 8 $0 $5,640
154 Ronald Agenor Haiti 3-9 12 $0 $5,150
155 Michael Russell United States 0-3 4 $0 $4,870
156 Gaston Gaudio Argentina 1-7 8 $0 $4,657
157 Paradorn Srichaphan Thailand 0-1 1 $0 $4,130
158 Ivo Karlovic Croatia 4-4 4 $0 $3,730
159 Radek Stepanek Czechia 8-7 8 $0 $3,450
160 Bjorn Phau Germany 0-6 8 $0 $2,920
161 Patrik Kuhnen Germany 0-2 4 $0 $2,920
162 Raemon Sluiter Netherlands 3-3 4 $0 $2,795
163 Agustin Calleri Argentina 2-4 4 $0 $2,700
164 Andrew Ilie Australia 4-2 3 $0 $2,626
165 Taylor Dent United States 0-1 2 $0 $2,520
166 Luis Horna Peru 1-7 6 $0 $2,425
167 Sergio Casal Spain 1-1 1 $0 $2,155
168 John Fitzgerald Australia 0-1 1 $2,032 $2,032
169 James Blake United States 1 $0 $2,000
170 Antony Dupuis France 1-2 2 $0 $1,640
171 Feliciano Lopez Spain 1-3 3 $0 $1,410
172 Juan Ignacio Chela Argentina 0-3 3 $0 $1,390
173 David Pate United States 0-2 2 $0 $1,185
174 Christophe Rochus Belgium 0-2 2 $0 $1,055
175 Xavier Malisse Belgium 0-2 2 $0 $1,055
176 Brad Gilbert United States 0-1 1 $0 $1,000
177 Roger Federer Switzerland 1 $0 $650
178 Franco Davin Argentina 1-1 1 $0 $430
179 Fernando Gonzalez Chile 1 $0 $400
180 Juan Carlos Ferrero Spain 1 $0 $400
181 David Nalbandian Argentina 0-1 1 $0 $365
182 Guillermo Coria Argentina 0-1 1 $0 $365
183 Jaime Yzaga Peru 1-3 4 $0 $365

Where 1997 sits

Every season the tour has paid, in order

55 seasons

1997 is the 22th biggest season of the 55 on the chart.

Which countries won the 1997 money

The fifteen biggest flags on the 1997 list

40 countries paid

# Country Players Titles Share Prize money
01 United States 25 29 19.1% $13,778,907$13.8m
02 Spain 20 32 11.9% $8,611,067$8.6m
03 Australia 13 26 10.5% $7,560,263$7.6m
04 Sweden 10 19 7.1% $5,137,416$5.1m
05 Czechia 7 14 5.6% $4,030,190$4.0m
06 Russia 6 12 5.1% $3,718,187$3.7m
07 Netherlands 6 17 5.0% $3,621,802$3.6m
08 France 12 10 4.3% $3,136,591$3.1m
09 Germany 12 8 4.3% $3,120,295$3.1m
10 Austria 4 2 3.3% $2,375,416$2.4m
11 Great Britain 2 5 3.2% $2,318,219$2.3m
12 Brazil 2 10 2.6% $1,893,418$1.9m
13 Croatia 3 5 2.1% $1,491,896$1.5m
14 Chile 3 1 1.9% $1,407,545$1.4m
15 South Africa 5 3 1.4% $1,027,166

40 countries had a player paid in 1997, and the top three of them took 41.5% 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 1997?

Pete Sampras, $6,498,311 from 23 events, with 8 titles and a 67-14 record.

How much prize money did tennis pay out in 1997?

$72,222,456 across the 183 players on this list, the 22th biggest season of the 55 the list covers. The season is up 3.0% on 1996, and is the 22th biggest of the 55 seasons we hold.

How many tennis players earned a million dollars in 1997?

18 of them. The top ten took 35.1% of everything paid out that season.

What share of 1997 prize money came from the grand slams?

20.0%. The four majors paid $14,434,775 of the $72,222,456 won that season.

Which country won the most tennis prize money in 1997?

United States, $13,778,907 across 25 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 1997. 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 1997

The 1996 money list · The 1998 money list

Every season

By era

The 1997 top sixty

Elsewhere in tennis