A former tennis star is now worth considerably more money that football icon Cristiano Ronaldo despite retiring from the the sport 47 years ago. Indeed, Ion Tiriac was a tennis player in the 1960s and 70s, but has made a huge amount of money after hanging up his racket.
Having become a professional tennis player in the 1960s, the Romanian won his first title at the 1970 French Open. Tiriac and fellow Romanian Ilie Nastase won the men’s doubles that year, and it turned out to be his only major title.
He would also impress at Wimbledon, with a semi-final finish, but – far from the greatest tennis player of all time – that was the next best result of his career. As such, Tiriac retired in 1979, having made just £200,000 from tennis. Since leaving the sport all those years ago, however, the 86-year-old has gone on to make billions.
Ion Tiriac Set Up Investsment Business After Fall of Communism in Romania
Former tennis player Ion Tiriac looks on during the final between Romania’s Simona Halep and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in 2017
After retiring, he coached and managed top players like Guillermo Vilas, Marat Safin and Boris Becker. However, he also began an investment career after the fall of communism in Romania. He would eventually set up the Tiriac Group, which has interests in real estate, auto, financial services and more.
This turned out to be a pretty fruitful move as Tiriac – who founded Ion Tiriac Bank, the first private bank in post-communist Romania – became his nation's first official billionaire in 2007, as per the Sun. It's said that he has huge collection of luxury cars and bike models, around 400, in his Tiriac Collection, which can be viewed in Otopeni, Romania.
As of 2026, Forbes estimates that the former Romanian tennis player has a net-worth of $2.3B. This makes him the 1778th richest person in the world today. Incredibly, despite his advanced age, Tiriac's wealth has grown massively in recent years, nearly doubling since 2020 when it was $1.2B.
Ion Tiriac Net Worth Compared to Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo
Of course, Tiriac isn't the first former athlete to make an awful lot of money away from sport. Reece Wabara was a Manchester City youth academy prospect, but quit the game at the age of 26 in 2017 to become a businessman. He was reported to have a networth of £83 million in 2024.
Perhaps even more impressively, former Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini started a Biochemicals company after hanging up his boots and it's since been valued at £10B. Elsewhere, ex-Manchester United striker Louis Saha is said to have a amassed a £4.3 billion fortune post-retirement as well.
Cristiano Ronaldo may want to have a word with former Old Trafford teammate Saha about growing his wealth away from football. That said, the Portuguese striker has already become the first billionare footballer while still playing the sport. He will have some way to go, however, before he can come close to Tiriac's wealth.
Indeed, Ronaldo is said to have a note worth of around $1.4B, which leaves him a far bit short of the Romanian's $2.3B.