India cricket captain Virat Kohli finds himself in the Forbes' highest paid athletes list of 2020. Virat ranks at 66th position in this esteemed list, headed by Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer.
Notably, Kohli is the only cricketer in the world to feature in this list with estimated annual earnings of $26 million ($24m from endorsements and $2m from salary). In 2019 too, the ace batsman was the only Indian to appear in top 100 (at 100th place) with estimated earnings of $25 million.
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Federer, who became the first tennis player to top Forbes' list of highest paid athletes, earned approximately $106.3 million over the past 12 months. He replaced Portuguese football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo from the top spot.
The three athletes immediately below Federer are all football players with Ronaldo on second with estimated earnings of $105 million followed by Lionel Messi ($104 million) and Neymar ($95.5 million).
NBA stars came next in the list with Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James earning $88.2 million, Golden State Warriors all-star Stephen Curry with $74.4 million, Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant with an estimated $63.9 million.
Among the female athletes, Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka is the highest paid with $37.4 million. However, she holds the 29th position in overall rankings. US tennis great Serena Williams comes 33rd with $36 million.
The factors that went into Forbes' calculation were athletes' revenue, including prize money, salaries, contract bonuses, endorsements, royalties, and appearance fees from June 1, 2019, until June 1, 2020.
(With IANS inputs)
