World’s Richest Tennis Star Blows Michael Jordan and Every Other Sports Star Out of the Water

Unquestionably, the richest athlete in the world is Jessica Pegula.

The richest athlete in the world, Michael Jordan, is nowhere near Jessica Pegula’s fortune, according to a new list of the world’s athletes. The top 30 richest athletes in the world of sport as of right now are compiled using data from Forbes and Celebrity Net Worth, with NBA star Michael Jordan at the top of the list.

The staggering net worth of world No. 3 Pegula, though, is not included in the chart. For comparison, Jordan, who is the wealthiest with £1.7 billion ($2.2 billion), has three times as much money in the bank as she does.

Pegula has won an impressive £5.8m ($7.2m) in prizes so far in her career, but that is merely a drop in the bucket compared to what she stands to inherit.

The tennis pro will inherit a sizable portion of her father Terry Pegula’s estimated $6.8 billion wealth. The self-made tycoon is the owner of the venerable NFL franchise Buffalo Bills, which he acquired in 2014 by outbidding Bon Jovi, Donald Trump, and other sports franchises.

Pegula has demonstrated initiative on her own by launching a skincare line called Ready 24 while her parents may own the Bills and the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. A Buffalo-based food and food truck company called Health Scratch, which has since ceased operations, was founded in 2016 with the help of her sister Kelly.

She is astonishingly wealthier than the combined net worth of former tennis greats Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, and Roger Federer. In order to demonstrate how wealthy she is, Pegula could, if she so desired, afford to purchase more than half of the Premier League at once.

The 20 Premier League clubs are valued at a total of $30 billion (£24.17 billion) according to data compiled by Sportico. Though most of that value is held by the traditional top six teams, Manchester United is the most expensive at £4.8 billion ($5.95 billion), which is obviously well within Pegula’s worth.

The native of New York lost in the quarterfinals of the US Open, Australian Open, and French Open last year. The pair, along with doubles partner Coco Gauff, lost in the finals at the French Open last year and will try to improve on that performance next month.

With two WTA 1000 titles under their belts, the American team emerged as one of the top doubles teams on the WTA Tour in the previous season. Gauff, who recently turned 19 and recently celebrated, has described Pegula’s true nature despite the fact that she is incredibly wealthy.

She said: “Jess is probably among the best people you can meet, especially considering where she is from. She is among the most friendly people ever. She’s older than me.

“She, as you may know, puts up with all of my antics when I try to say certain things. She reminds me a little bit of my older sister who travels. I’m happy to be our doubles partner, and I appreciate the bond we’ve built.”

Reference: www.express.co.uk