For Many Pro Athletes, Post-Career Financial Worries Loom Large

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For Many Pro Athletes, Post-Career Financial Worries Loom Large

The tennis player Mackenzie McDonald has earned well up to this point, but high expenses and a short career timeline have prompted him, and others, to search for a backup plan.

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At 31, Mackenzie McDonald has earned more than $7 million in prize money. But his recent demotion in ranking has him thinking about his financial future. “I’m very aware of my post-career life,” he said.

Credit...

Michael Stravato for The New York Times

By

Cindy Shmerler

April 28, 2026,

12:17 p.m. ET

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Mackenzie McDonald knows that, compared with most men his age, he is financially well off.

A California-born professional tennis player, McDonald, 31, has earned more than $7 million in prize money in his 10 years on the ATP Tour. In October 2023, he was ranked a career-high No. 37 in the world, but injuries and lackluster play have dropped his ranking to No. 125.

Such a change in ranking is not only a blow to a professional athlete’s ego. With it comes greater financial challenges, prompting a scramble to find ways to generate enough income to keep participating in competitions and also maintain a comfortable lifestyle — the kind that will, some day, make retirement possible.

For the vast majority of professional athletes who are not the top earners, it’s a reality that they grapple with, even as they continue to compete in tournaments and other events.

So far, McDonald is making an above-average income. In 2025, he earned $710,040 in prize money despite a 10-17 win-loss record in tour-level matches. But the competition — and expenses — are grueling. He lost in the first round at the French Open, Wimbledon and

U.S. Open.

Image

McDonald, then ranked 98, was beaten by Novak Djokovic at the French Open in 2025.

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Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

In all, between tour-level and Challenger events, McDonald played in 30 tournaments last season, including in Australia, China and Kazakhstan.

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