Roger Federer is battling a knee injury and has been since last summer.

It’s likely to keep him out of Wimbledon this year and it kept him out of a lot of events last year, too, yet he was still the top earner for tennis stars in 2021, as revealed by Forbes.

Though, of course, COVID-19 dealt a major blow to sports like tennis and this is reflected in the financial stats.

The elite earners within the sport took a hit in income from the previous year, with the figure in 2020 (£252 million) falling by £14.5 million to a 2021 total of £237.5 million. That’s still nothing to be sniffed at, but things such as a lack of tournaments and exhibition matches will have reduced fees that the players would’ve received.

This may provide light as to how Federer was able to claim top spot on the earners list having only competed in five tournaments last year due to injury.

The Swiss legend fell in the tennis rankings, yet still maintained a place at the top of the income list.

According to Forbes, Federer took home a cool $90.6 million.

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Second and third on the list are Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams, respectively.

The Japanese star, who is the reigning champion at both the US Open and Australian Open, took home an astonishing $60.1 million, while Serena also bagged a stunning fee of $41.8 million.

Meanwhile, a man who’s all over the news currently Novak Djokovic comes in at fourth. His total isn’t far behind Serena, as the Serbian managed a cool $38 million, which he certainly won’t mind given the controversy about him recently regarding his vaccination status.

Unsurprisingly, it is then Spaniard Rafael Nadal who rounds off the top five, taking home an impressive $27 million, but just behind him in sixth is Kei Nishikori, who pocketed $26 million.

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From there, the amounts start to fall.

Russian Daniil Medvedev took home $13.9 million and Austria’s Dominic Thiem accumulated $8.9 million.

Greek tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas got $8.1 million and, rounding off the list, Ashleigh Barty took home a cool $5.8 million.

Below is the top 10 in full.

10. Ashleigh Barty - On-court earnings: $3.8m/Off-court earnings: $2m/Total earnings: $5.8m

9. Stefanos Tsitsipas - On-court earnings: $4.1m/Off-court earnings: $4m/Total earnings: $8.1m

8. Dominic Thiem - On-court earnings: $4.9m/Off-court earnings: $4m/Total earnings: $8.9m

7. Daniil Medvedev - On-court earnings: $5.9m/Off-court earnings: $8m/Total earnings: $13.9m

6. Kei Nishikori - On-court earnings: $1m/Off-court earnings: $25m/Total earnings: $26m

5. Rafael Nadal - On-court earnings: $4m/Off-court earnings: $23m/Total earnings: $27m

4. Novak Djokovic - On-court earnings: $8m/Off-court earnings: $30m/Total earnings: $38m

3. Serena Williams - On-court earnings: $1.8m/Off-court earnings: $40m/Total earnings: $41.8m

2. Naomi Osaka - On-court earnings: $5.1m/Off-court earnings: $55m/Total earnings: $60.1m

1. Roger Federer - On-court earnings: $0.6m/Off-court earnings: $90m/Total earnings: $90.6m