Net worth of richest tennis star is more than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo combined

The world’s richest tennis player has a net worth more than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s combined, yet you’ve probably never even heard of him.

Romanian Ion Tiriac, who hung up his racket in 1979, only made around £200,000 during his career.

He won the French Open Doubles title in 1970 and reached the semi-final of Wimbledon that same year before fading into relative obscurity.

Following his retirement from the game, the Romanian embarked on a coaching career and worked with the likes of compatriot Ilie Nastase and even a young Boris Becker.

In the decades since, he’s proved himself a savvy businessman and made a string of good investment decisions which saw him turn that cash into a fortune believed to be around £1.5 billion.

In comparison, his wealth dwarves the combined net worth of Messi (£440 million) and Ronaldo (£368 million) who are two of the richest active sports stars on the planet.

Towards the end of the Cold War, Tiriac took advantage of fading communism in his native Romania to become the first to open a privately-owned bank, and the Tiriac Bank has been a huge financial success.

Under the company Tiriac Holdings Ltd, he has since branched out into retail, insurance and airline businesses and by 2007 had been named by Forbes as Romania’s first billionaire.

According to data compiled by Forbes, he’s the third wealthiest man in sport, behind WWE owner Vince McMahon and NBA legend Michael Jordan.

You could say Tiriac was always destined for glory and wealth, having first emerged on the international scene as a child ping ping champion.

He later switched to ice hockey and even competed at the 1964 Winter Olympics for his country before eventually focusing on tennis.

The 82-year-old is said to have over 500 cars in his possession – including some classics more than 100 years old – as well as a private jet, and he owns a giant luxury apartment complex in the Romanian capital Bucharest.

It’s also believed that he’s the only person in the world to personally own two Rolls-Royce Phantom IVs. – Daily Star