Jannik Sinner Set to Lose Nearly Half Prize Money After Wimbledon Win—Here’s Why

In a sport like tennis, what a player does next is the key. The next hit, the next set, the next match. And Jannik Sinner’s Wimbledon title chase proves he understands the concepts perfectly. After his SF win over Taylor Fritz, Carlos Alcaraz had already sounded an alarm, knowing “(Sinner’s) going to take a lot of things from French Open final; that he’s going to be better.” Yet, the grass court king entered Centre Court on Sunday giving 4-6 loss to the Italian in the first set.

Through most of the first hour, Sinner’s middling 55% lands on first serves certainly gave Alcaraz the confidence despite his early 4-2 lead in the match. But then came all the learnings, the pain of losing the French Open last month, and the memory of their H2H record getting a little too one-sided. Sinner slammed shut all opportunities for his Spanish opponent and dethroned the back-to-back reigning champion with 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 sets openly claiming his motivation later “I had a very tough loss in Paris.”

With his first Wimbledon win, Sinner earned £3 million grand prize, about $4.05 million. However, as it turns out, he would be losing almost 50% of this figure due to the prevailing laws of the land– UK tax on prize funds and earnings from endorsements on equipment used in the tournament. Here’s how:

• According to Andreas Bosse: The international tax legal consultant based in Monaco told Forbes about the UK withholding tax non-resident athletes incur; a 20% tax on the prize money. This cuts $810,000 (or about $800,000 on the $4 million figure) from his gross. Additionally, Bosse also stated UK charging a tax of up to 45%.
• According to Sean Packard: The OFS Wealth’s tax director claimed the taxes would go down to an effective rate of 36.52% after related expenses are deducted.
• The good twist: Fortunately, per reports, Italy’s top IRPEF rate is 43% for high-earning individuals (before any regional or municipal levies), where Sinner falls. However, the tax deducted in the UK is taken into account as a tax credit, meaning Sinner won’t be doubly taxed in his home country.
• The math: After 45% tax on the prize money, Sinner’s net take-home is roughly $2.2M. And if Packard’s 36.52% tax is levied, the total amount comes down to $2.5M as well. 

After accounting for reported coaching and tournament expenses, his final net would hover around half the gross, though exact figures remain unverified. Interestingly, after the match, Sinner joked about Wimbledon being an expensive tournament.

He had his match against Alcaraz interrupted by a champagne cork, the first time that such an incident would have happened with Sinner. It occurred in the second set, when Sinner took a pause to remove the projectile from the court. After the match, he said, “Only here at Wimbledon. That’s exactly why we love playing here. It’s a very expensive tournament.”

Meanwhile, he will find a new reason for Wimbledon to be an expensive tournament from his accountant. And although the win is a happy turn of events, the memories from the heartbreaking French Open defeat were still alive in Sinner’s mind. Thus, it was sweet revenge for the Italian star as he expressed his emotions after the big win.

Jannik Sinner remembers his French Open defeat

It was a rematch between two of the best players in men’s tennis currently– The No. 1 Sinner vs the No. 2 Alcaraz. And the last time the two played on the red clay of Roland Garros five weeks ago, the story was flipped. In the French Open final, Alcaraz got the better of Sinner in a nerve-wracking five-set match. And that too in the worst possible way, coming back from three championship points down in the fourth set to take away the trophy in a 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 sets.

Top Comment by Kerryman

I’ll take what ever his final figure is. Sinner is a good person for tennis both f

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Thus, Sinner was determined to take his revenge, and he did it in style today. After the match, he opened up about how he felt about winning his first Wimbledon title. Sinner revealed, “I had a very tough loss in Paris. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how you win or you lose the important tournaments. You just have to understand what you did wrong. Trying to work on that—that’s exactly what we did. We tried to accept the loss and then just kept working. And this is, for sure, why I’m holding this trophy here.”

As for Alcaraz, the attacks from Sinner in the latter hours of the game became overwhelming. “It was really difficult when you are feeling that you’re just defending all the time and running from side to side all the time,” he stated after the defeat.

With this win, Sinner consolidated his presence at the top of the ATP rankings chart. His lead over Alcaraz is now over 3400 points, which will take some strong efforts from the Spaniard if he is to replace Sinner at the top.