Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo face massive net worth shock as Romanian former tennis reached $2 billion mark

Former tennis legend now the richest athlete after retiring over thirty years ago.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo face massive net worth shock as Romanian former tennis reached $2 billion mark

Ion Tiriac is now the richest athlete (Via Open source/X)

Ion Tiriac, a former tennis player, who had a career earning of £200,000, is now a billionaire, worth more than soccer greats Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The Romanian was active on the tennis court from 1958 to 1979.

Tiriac won a major double at the French Open and reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in the doubles. He later went on to win 22 doubles titles and 34 singles crowns before retiring. Unlike modern tennis legends like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic his earnings were modest. However, his achievement after retirement changed his life.

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According to Forbes, the 84-year-old now has a net worth of around £1.6 billion ($2 billion). He began a multinational investment company that deals in real estate, airlines, financial services, automotive, energy, and several other businesses.

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He became the first-ever Romanian billionaire in 2007 with his company Tiriac Group amassing a huge collection of luxury cars of more than four models, including a Rolls Royce and Phantom IV.

Tiriac now boasts a bigger fortune than any current or former athlete. Nearest to him are Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Ronaldo boasts of a net worth of $631 million with an annual salary of £107 million from club and sponsorships, while Messi, Inter Miami playmaker, has a net worth of $586 million and an annual salary of £102 million including sponsorship deals.

Ion Tiriac doesn’t trust CAS as Simon Halepa goes to appeal anti-doping charges

Simona Halep heads to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to appeal the anti-doping charges that earned her a four-year ban from tennis in September. In a conversation with The Romanian Journal Ion Tiriac said that he doesn’t trust the sports body because of several wrong test figures in the past. Halep had reiterated in a statement that she was innocent of all charges and that her name should be cleared.

Ion Tiriac (Image Credit: Forbes)
Ion Tiriac (Image Credit: Forbes)
I don’t know what Simona is doing, now she goes to TAS. But does the world know what TAS is? In 2000, Andrea Răducan’s sample was manipulated, they sent 62 ml and returned 100 ml. What does TAS do? Break all the rules. So what world are we living in? Well, after a year someone comes and says that he dug and found something else, the biological passport. I don’t know them, but I wish them all the best from the bottom of my heart.
Tiriac via The Romanian Journal

During her provisional for testing positive for Roxadustat in October 2023, she was slammed with a second anti-doping charge for irregularities in her Athletic Biological Passport (ABP). However, she goes to appeal her case, convinced that she was wrongly charged.

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