Introduction

Mary Pierce is a Canadian retired professional tennis player with an estimated net worth of $14 Million.

Quick Facts

• Earned approximately $9.79 million in prize money during her career
• Peak annual winnings of $2.13 million in 2005

Early Life 

Mary Caroline Pierce was born January 15, 1975, in Montreal, Canada, to Yannick Adjaj and Jim Pierce. Her mother is French, and her father is American, which qualifies her for citizenship in France, the United States, and Canada.

Growing up, Mary was raised in the United States and started playing tennis at the age of 10. She became the youngest American player to make her professional tour debut at the age of 14.

Tennis Career 

Mary Pierce won her first WTA Tour singles title in 1991, and two years later, she filed a restraining order against her father for verbal abuse against her and her opponents.

In 1994, Mary reached her first Grand Slam singles final at the French Open, and the following year won her first Grand Slam at the Australian Open. While the next couple of years saw a number of setbacks, in 1997, she returned to the Australian Open, but was defeated by Martina Hingis in straight sets.

Pierce managed to win her second Grand Slam doubles title in 2000 at the French Open, where she became the first French woman to claim the title since 1967. Four years later, Pierce defeated Maria Sharapova at the US Open but lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round.

In 2006, her first tournament was the Australian Open, but she lost quickly in the second round and, due to injuries, was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon and the French Open. Although she made a recovery, she was unable to find victory at the US, Luxembourg, or Zurich Opens, despite playing well at the beginning of each tournament. Pierce suffered a torn knee ligament in 2006, and while she was forced to miss the rest of the season, she stated she wasn’t ready to retire.

Despite her determination to continue, she never played another match but did make an appearance at the 2007 French Open, where an avenue was named in her honor. While she never played again, she did become one of only three women, including Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic, to win both the championship and the wooden spoon at a Grand Slam tournament.

Prize Money

Mary Pierce earned enough during her career to be considered one of the world’s wealthiest tennis players, and this ranking she retains today. According to the official WTA website, Pierce earned a total of $9.79 million in prize money during her career. We’ve researched her winnings for individual years to understand how Mary’s earnings progressed throughout her career. Unfortunately, we were unable to confirm exact figures for four years (1992-1995), but we know that Pierce earned roughly $3 million during this period.

Early Career Winnings

Between 1989 and 1991, the three years prior, Mary Pierce began her career with modest winnings of just $8,000, which increased to $91,653 by 1991. In 1995, we know that Pierce won in the ballpark of $680,000 that year, primarily thanks to her $299,196 payday for winning the Australian Open. Her earnings dropped to $195,570 the following year, but bounced back to the $650,000 level from 1997 to 1998. 

Highest-Earning Years

During the remainder of Pierce’s career, from 2000 through 2006, her annual winnings fluctuated quite significantly, typically ranging between $80,000 and $300,000 for five of the seven years. However, two years stand out in particular: 2000 and 2005. In the former, she earned approximately $1.21 million from prize money, of which almost 50% ($579,000) was gained from winning the 2000 French Open. She also won the Family Circle Cup that year, which contributed an additional $166,000 to her winnings.

On the other hand, 2005 is the highest-earning year of Mary Pierce’s career, according to prize money records. She earned approximately $2.13 million from tournaments that year, including three paydays in the ballpark of half a million dollars. Pierce’s most lucrative tournaments in 2005 were as follows:

1. US Open (1st) – $501,849
2. WTA Finals (2nd) – $500,000
3. French Open (2nd) – $497,813
4. Ladies Kremlin Cup (1st) – $189,000
5. Acura Classic (1st) – $189,000

Personal Life

Mary Pierce was briefly engaged to Roberto Alomar in 1999 and later to Air France pilot Emmanuel Ades, but ultimately broke off both engagements. Although Mary had a difficult relationship with her father, the pair did reconcile shortly before she retired, an event she attributes to her conversion to Christianity.

Awards & Achievements

Here are some of Mary Pierce’s greatest career achievements:

• Pierce won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in 1995.
• In 1997, Pierce won the Comeback Player of the Year Award.
• Pierce won four titles in 1998: the Paris Indoor event, the Kremlin Cup, the Luxembourg Open, and the Amelia Island Championships.
• In 2000, Pierce won her second Grand Slam singles title at the French Open.
• Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame (2019)

How Does Mary Pierce Spend Her Money?

Since stepping away from the court, Mary Pierce has set up shop not in an expensive city but on the small island nation of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. She now enjoys living an unassuming life on the island but doesn’t flaunt her wealth.

There are no mentions of her having an extraordinarily lavish house, and instead, it appears she dedicates much of her time to the Black River church in her local community. However, she still remains active in tennis, coaching her siblings, Emmanuelle and Amaury de Beer, whom she hopes will make it onto ITF satellite tours.

Aside from this, we know that she often goes boating with her friends on the turquoise waters surrounding Mauritius, though there is no info on whether she rents or owns her boat.

Summary 

Mary Pierce is a highly accomplished former professional tennis player who has earned millions for her talents on the court. Although she retired in 2007, she remains active in the sport as a coach and member of the ITF Tennis Board of Directors.

Introduction

Martina Navratilova is a Czech-American former professional tennis player with an estimated net worth of $25 Million.

Navratilova dominated women’s tennis during the 70s and 80s. Although she retired in 2006, Navratilova has continued to grow her wealth through her authorship and activism.

Early Life 

Her mother was an accomplished tennis player, gymnast, and ski instructor who moved with Martina to the Revnice district in Prague after Martina’s father, Mirek, divorced her.

Growing up, Martina’s first tennis coach was her stepfather, Miroslav Navratil, who started teaching her the game when she was seven. At the age of 15, in 1972, Martina won the Czechoslovakian national tennis championship and made her debut in the US Lawn Tennis Association the following year. Martina won her first professional singles title in 1974 in Orlando, Florida, but didn’t officially start her professional career until 1975.

Tennis Career 

Martina Navratilova began her professional career strongly, finishing as the runner-up at two major singles tournaments in 1975. She then teamed with Chris Evert to win the French Open women’s doubles title.

In 1978, Navratilova won her first major singles title at Wimbledon, defeating Chris Evert to take the No. 1 ranking. The following year, she would defeat Evert again at Wimbledon to win the championship for the second time. Navratilova would lose against Tracy Austin at the US Open in 1981 but win the Australian Open the same year.

In 1982, she won her third major singles title at Wimbledon, defeating Evert, before losing to her at the Australian Open. She then embarked on a remarkable winning streak in 1983, which lasted until 1984, during which she won two more Wimbledon titles, her first two US Open titles, and the Australian and French Opens, each for a second consecutive time.

In total, Navratilova won nine Wimbledon titles, the Australian Open titles, four US Open titles, and two French Open titles before her retirement. Additionally, by winning the 1983 US Open, Navratilova became the seventh woman in history to achieve a career Grand Slam, a milestone that involves winning all four major championships in a calendar year.

Prize Money & Additional Income

According to the official WTA website, Martina Navratilova earned approximately $21.63 million in prize money during her career. However, upon conducting the annual calculations, we found only winnings amounting to $20.65 million. Thus, there are likely earnings from several tournaments that haven’t been listed on the WTA website.

In 1973, her first year of professional competition, she earned just $6,100. Navratilova’s annual winnings increased gradually throughout the decade, earning $35,480 in 1974, $179,243 in 1975, and reaching $747,548 by 1979.

Peak Career Winnings

Many regarded the period between 1982 and 1986 as the peak of Martina Navratilova’s tennis career. Up until this point, she had earned approximately $3.47 million in prize money. 1982 was the first year that she took home seven figures in winnings, earning roughly $1.48 million. In 1984, she reached a career-high of $2.17 million, thanks to winning three of the four major Grand Slam tournaments (French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open). During the peak of her career, Martina typically earned between $1.3 million and $2.2 million in annual prize money. 

Additional Prize Money

After 1986, Navratilova’s annual winnings began to decline, but she still achieved several years of roughly $1.3 million in prize money between 1988 and 1990. Her final year of professional competition, which was 1994, earned her approximately $620,000.

Off-Court Income Sources

• Martina has released several books, including a women’s tennis guide, an autobiography, two self-help books, and three mystery novels.
• Navratilova has also appeared on a few TV shows, including Portlandia, The Politician, and Dancing with the Stars.
• In 2014, Martina also worked as a tennis coach for Agnieszka Radwanska.
• During her tennis career, Navratilova also benefited from million-dollar endorsements with Yonex rackets, Avia sports shoes, and Thorio athletic socks.

Real Estate

In 2015, Martina Navratilova offered fans the chance to live a life of luxury in her Miami Beach home for $7,900 per month. Jumping into the role of landlord, Navratilova put her house up for rent, and while the price was high, the home is worth it. Sporting waterfront views of Biscayne Bay, this single-family home has four bedrooms, an open-concept living area, a backyard pool, and easy access to the beach.

Navratilova is no stranger to living in Florida, having previously sold another house in Nokomis for $2.5 million. This previous home is situated on the western edge of Florida and comes with 3,966 sqft, four bedrooms, five bathrooms, and views of Sarasota Bay. Outside, there is even a heated pool, a private garden, and a private dock with two boat lifts.

In addition to these houses, Navratilova has also been linked to a property in Carbondale, Colorado; however, little information about this home has been made available to the public.

Personal Life

Shortly after becoming a U.S. citizen, Navratilova gave an interview to the New York Daily News in 1981, coming out as bisexual and revealing her past relationship with Rita Mae Brown, an American feminist writer. While she requested the interview not be published until she was ready to come out publicly, the newspaper published it anyway, the same year.

From 1984 to 1991, Navratilova was in a long-term relationship with Judy Nelson, an American romance author, while Nelson was still married with two children. After their split, Nelson filed a palimony lawsuit against Martina that was later settled.

In 2014, Navratilova married Julia Lemigova, a former Miss USSR winner, after proposing to her at the US Open. Since leaving tennis, Martina has become an outspoken activist for gay rights, animal rights, and underprivileged children.

Awards & Achievements

Here are some of the greatest awards Martina Navratilova has earned:

• Martina Navratilova was named the International Tennis Federation’s World Champion numerous times: in 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1986.
• Navratilova was also named the Women’s Tennis Association Player of the Year in 1978 and 1979, and consecutively five times from 1982 to 1986.
• The International Tennis Hall of Fame inducted Navratilova in 2000.
• In 2003, Navratilova received the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.
• Navratilova was presented with the Czech Sports Legend Award in 2006.

Summary 

Martina Navratilova is one of the best women’s tennis players to ever step onto the court, and she has left a lasting legacy in the sport for future generations to aspire to. While she has since retired from the game, she continues to build her wealth as an activist and author.

Introduction

Monica Seles is a Serbian-American former world No. 1 professional tennis player with an estimated net worth of $50 Million.

While she may no longer play, Seles continues to grow her wealth as a spokesperson for Shire Pharmaceuticals.

Early Life 

Monica Seles was born December 2, 1973, in Novi Sad, SFR Yugoslavia (now Serbia), to an ethnic Hungarian family. Her parents, Ester and Karolj, supported her interest in tennis from a young age, and her father even served as her first coach.

In 1985, when she was 11, Monica won the Junior Orange Bowl tournament in Miami, Florida, and caught the attention of tennis coach Nick Bollettieri, who encouraged her to enroll at his tennis academy.

Seles and her brother moved to the United States in 1986, and Monica trained for two years at Bollettieri’s. Under his tutelage, Monica won her first professional tournament as an amateur in 1988.

Tennis Career 

Monica Seles officially began her professional tennis career in 1990, and she quickly embarked on a 36-match winning streak, claiming victory in six consecutive tournaments. Seles then won her first Grand Slam singles title at the French Open, facing off against then-No. 1 player Steffi Graf to become the youngest-ever French Open singles champion at the age of 16.

In 1991, Seles once again started dominating women’s tennis tour events, winning the Australian Open, the French Open, and the US Open, titles she successfully defended the following season.

Unfortunately, things would take a turn for the worse in 1993, when, after defeating Steffi Graf once more at the Australian Open, Seles was stabbed during the quarterfinal match at the Citizen Cup in Hamburg, Germany. During this match, a man named Gunter Parche stabbed Seles with a boning knife between her shoulder blades in an attempt to end her tennis career.

Parche was allegedly a huge fan of Graf, and due to Seles having beaten her, he was attempting to remove her from the game permanently. While her physical injuries healed within several weeks, it took Seles more than two years to return to competitive tennis. After becoming a US citizen in 1994, Seles returned to the court in 1995, and the WTA president proposed that she be reinstated as the joint number one player alongside Graf.

Seles won her first comeback tournament at the Canadian Open, followed closely by the US Open, and her fourth Australian Open in 1996. However, after this point, she never won another Grand Slam but did defeat Venus Williams and Lindsey Davenport during her final tour before retiring in 2003. 

Prize Money

With her talents, Monica Seles has become one of the wealthiest tennis players in the world, earning a substantial fortune throughout her career. According to the official WTA website, Seles earned a total of $14.89 million in prize money during her career. We’ve sifted through the official data and calculated her annual winnings for every year of her career.

Early Career Winnings

It didn’t take long for Seles to begin earning seven figures annually in prize money. 1988 was her first year competing as a professional, earning her a small sum of $14,700. The following year, she secured $239,361 in prize money, but as the new decade began, Seles started winning more frequently and took home some impressive winnings.

Peak Career Prize Money

Between 1990 and 1992, Monica Seles earned approximately $6.7 million in prize money. These three years were the highest-earning years of her career, earning her $1.64 million, $2.42 million, and $2.62 million, respectively. This was primarily due to numerous Grand Slam and WTA Finals wins, most notably the French Open, which she won for three consecutive years, earning her:

• $293,000 (1990)
• $378,500 (1991)
• $372,896 (1992)

She also won the WTA Finals twice, earning a combined $500,000, as well as the 1991 US Open, which earned her $400,000, and the 1991 Australian Open, which earned her $234,806.

Additional Winnings

Despite competing for an additional eleven years after her three-year Grand Slam run in the early 1990s, Monica Seles was unable to return to her peak form. For the remainder of her career, Seles typically earned between $600,000 and $1.2 million in annual prize money, with the most notable years being 1996 ($1.15 million), 2000 ($1.14 million), and 2002 ($1.1 million).

Endorsements

In the early 90s, Seles signed a $4 million endorsement deal with Fila to promote their tennis apparel. Seles wore apparel and used equipment from Yonex in the 2000s; however, the amount she earned from the endorsement is unknown.

In 2009, Seles published her memoir Getting A Grip: On My Body, My Mind, My Self, earning her additional income. As of 2015, Seles has served as a paid spokesperson for Shire Pharmaceuticals, promoting their binge eating disorder medication.

Personal Life

Monica Seles married businessman Tom Golisano after becoming engaged in 2014. Although Tom has a daughter, Amy, from a prior marriage, the couple has no children of their own.

In 2009, Seles released her memoir Getting A Grip: On My Body, My Mind, My Self, which talks about her battle with depression and binge eating disorder after her stabbing attack and her father’s cancer diagnosis.

Due to her struggles, Seles has become a spokesperson for Shire Pharmaceuticals, a company that made the first drug approved by the FDA to help treat binge eating disorder.

Real Estate

Monica Seles’s fans got a look at her luxurious house when she put her Florida mansion up for sale in 2015. With an asking price of $1.4 million, her Sarasota estate boasts 5,871 square feet of living space and grand French doors that open out onto a massive pool area. Situated next to the Laurel Oak Country Club, this home seamlessly blends Mediterranean and Classical styles, naturally complemented by a full-sized tennis court.

While there is no information on where she has since moved, in interviews, she has reported downsizing and leaving the Sarasota area.

Summary 

Many consider Monica Seles to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, and she has left a lasting legacy in the sport. Although she retired in 2008, she continues earning money through investments and as a spokesperson for Shire Pharmaceuticals.