SPORTING FORTUNES
Former tennis player has fortune greater than Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and LeBron James
Ronaldo, Messi and James are known for their record-breaking skills in their chosen sports, and for amassing huge wealth while doing it.
It was recently revealed that Lionel Messi, LeBron James and Cristiano Ronaldo were the highest paid athletes in 2022. Although the three athletes have amassed a significant amount of money over the years, they are all, somewhat surprisingly, surpassed by a former tennis player from the 1960s-70′s.
Who is Ion Tiriac, the wealthy ex-sports star?
This is Ion Tiriac, born in Romania in 1939 and retired from professional sports in 1979 after playing ice hockey and tennis. During his period at the top he represented his country at the Winter Olympic Games in 1964 for ice hockey, he won the French Open doubles with Ilie Nastase, the Davis Cup final on several occasions, and in singles he reached the Wimbledon semifinals.
Although he had a long career in these two sporting disciplines, his wealth does not consist simply of what he earned on the rink and court, but in the businesses he later started and that deliver a personal fortune of $1.5 billion.
Considering that the most he earned as an athlete was after making the top four at Wimbledon, where he earned around $244,000 (£200,000), it’s quite striking that he’s racked up his fortune through Tiriac Group, a company that invests in fields such as real estate and financial services.
According to Forbes magazine, the 83-year-old Romanian businessman became the country’s first billionaire in 2007 and is now worth more than Cristiano Ronaldo and LeBron James, with both having a fortune of approximately $1 billion.
What else has Ion Tiriac done?
The former athlete born in Brasov, Romania, has been managing tennis players since 1983, but the one who gave him the most fame was the German, Boris Becker, whom he represented between 1984-1993 and who won six Grand Slam tournaments. Likewise, he became president of the Romanian Olympic Committee in 1998 and within tennis, he took over the rights to the ATP Madrid Master 1000, currently the Mutua Madrid Open.