Forever in Monaco: Tennis Players Who Became Residents of the Principality
We can’t help loving Monaco. For the longest time, it has attracted successful and famous people and has become the second home for many sportsmen and celebrities. In particular, tennis players live here or have once lived here. Many tennis players even chose to stay here during the self-isolation period that was introduced because of the Covid-19. Let’s take a look at those famous tennis players that chose Monaco as their home.
Novak Djokovic
Marital status: married to Jelena Ristic since 2014. Jelena is a director of the Novak Djokovic Foundation.
Children: Stefan and Tara.
Winner of 24 Grand Slam singles tournaments Novak has long been a resident of the Principality. This Serbian tennis player moved here in 2000. Today he continues his career, and also actively helps the Princess Charlene Foundation as its ambassador. In 2020, Novak Djokovic became an 10-time winner of the Australian Open tournament, thus breaking a record of champion titles in this competition. Novak Djokovic’s fortune is estimated at $50.6 million. In 2019, the Forbes ranked him 17th among the best paid athletes.
Novak’s fortune is estimated at 23.5 million dollars, placing him at 86th place in the Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid athletes in 2018.
Novak settled in Monaco years ago. Here he opened his only one vegan restaurant Eqvita in Monaco, which was located on Rue de Portier and received many positive client reviews. But unfortunately, now it’s closed.
Interesting fact: among tennis lovers, Djokovic is known for his parodies of other players. For the first time, he demonstrated his «acting skills» after his victory over Carlos Moya in the quarterfinals of the US Open Tennis Championship in 2007. Back then, it was Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova who became his «victims». That is why he has been nicknamed the «Joker», the word combining the Serbian name of Djokovic and playing on the English word «joke».
Marat Safin
Marital status: single.
This Russian tennis player doesn’t speak too much about his place of residence. In 2015, Marat reportedly felt compelled to rent a hotel during the Rolex Masters tournament, although at that time he already had an apartment in the Principality. «Because the hotel room is larger than my apartment!», the tennis player explained. When interviewed by one Russian newspaper, he admitted feeling at home in Monaco: “I feel equally at home both in Monaco and in Moscow. I travel a lot, without staying too much in one place. I look after myself, my health and personal life. I just really like traveling, getting in the car, driving or taking a flight somewhere. I do have friends all over the world. ”
Interesting fact: in December 2011, Marat was elected to the Russian Parliament as a member of Vladimir Putin’s party United Russia.
Daniil Medvedev
Marital status: married to Daria Medvedeva, daughter Alisa.
Daniil Medvedev’s sports career all started with his mother taking him to tennis classes as a child. At a point when tennis became predominant in his life, Daniel did two high school years externally in order devote more time to his sports. The tennis world first heard of him in 2013 when Daniil took part in the European Championship, making his way to the finals in doubles and to the quarter finals in singles. He then debuted in the World Tour’s main draw in singles in May 2016.
Daniil Medvedev is a Monaco resident. He is favouring the Principality since his progress and training in the native Moscow are admittedly more complicated. The tennis player speaks three foreign languages, including French.
The tennis player currently occupies the fourth position in the ATP ranking, having won 20 titles in the ATP tournaments. In 2019, he made it to the US Open finals, subsequently losing to the Spaniard Rafael Nadal.
Alexander Zverev
Marital status: Dating a German actress and model Sophie Thomalla.
Zverev is a German professional tennis player; he is the current «ATP Finals» champion and the winner of 21 ATP tournaments. Thanks to his hard work and talent, today, the athlete is No. 5 in the world.
After he defeated Serbian Novak Djokovic in the ATP Finals, the Serb tennis player commented, saying that there’s no doubt Zverev «will be one of the favourites in every slam».
In 2020, Alexandre first made it to the Australian Open semifinals where he lost to a German Dominic Thiem. His best result had previously been performing in the French Open quarter finals (2018, 2019).
Today, Zverev lives in the Principality, preferring it to his hometown of Hamburg.
Interesting fact: in Alexander’s family, tennis is an integral part of life. Alexander’s older brother, Misha, is also a tennis player. It seems that both of them inherited this passion for sports from their parents. Alexander’s father moved from Russia to Germany in 1991. Alexander Zverev Senior, in addition to his wife Irina, was a professional tennis player and competed for the USSR team.
Stefanos Tsitsipas
Marital status: Stefanos Tsitsipas currently dates fellow tennis star, Paula Bedosa.
Stefanos Tsitsipas is a rising Monaco-based tennis star who has already had a spectacular career. 25-years old, talented and ambitious, the tennis player, Stefanos Tsitsipas, is currently ranked 12 in the world.
The young man is a son of the Soviet tennis player, Yulia Salnikova (daughter of the famous Russian footballer, Sergei Salnikov) and the Greek tennis coach, Apostolos Tsitsipas. This sports family has four children. The eldest son, Stefanos, accompanied his parents on the tennis court from a very young age and eventually started playing seriously, coached by his own father. During the 2000s, his tennis career has sky rocketed in an amazing way.
He is the first Greek athlete to make it into the Top-100 and Top-10 world tennis rankings, a multiple winner of the ATP, Grand Slam, Wimbledon (boys’ doubles in 2016) tournaments and the former world number one junior. Stefanos Tsitsipas is always a welcome figure. His tennis manner coupled with a striking Greek god physique and straw curly hair, have made him a favourite with the media as well as the Adidas ambassador.
Petra Kvitova
Marital status: married to Jiří Vaněk, on 1 January 2024, Kvitová announced her pregnancy.
34-year-old tennis player Petra Kvitova also decided to move to Monaco and to enjoy all the pleasures of life in this country. However, her journey to obtaining Monegasque residency was not without controversy.
In fact, after she won her second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, her return home was unusually lacking in warmth. Social Democrat MP Stanislav Huml accused her of avoiding income taxes and suggested she should be deprived of her Czech citizenship. «I am not sure if it is worth moving to Monaco just to pay less tax when the Czech Republic actually helped her to achieve some of her success», the deputy said in his interview for Czech radio. Nevertheless, Petra did not change her mind and settled in the Principality. In 2020, Petra Kvitova played in the Australian Open quater finals and lost to her rival.
Interesting fact: in 2016, Petra was robbed at her apartment in the Czech Republic. The robber damaged her left hand (Petra is a left-handed player) while she tried to defend herself. She underwent surgery to repair the damage.
Bernard Tomic
Marital status: single.
At the age of 31, this Australian tennis player lives in Monaco and is developing his sports career. Tomic has already managed to show promising results, having won two junior Grand Slam tournaments in singles and the No. 2 title in the junior rankings.
Having started his professional career at the age of 15, he has already played against Tomáš Berdych, David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and other outstanding tennis players, earning a well-deserved place in the top twenty. He has previously won two junior Grand Slam tournaments in the singles and owns the title of the world second junior racket.
Interesting fact: Bernard Tomic spent $ 50,000 on a party at one of the Melbourne clubs.
According to the Herald Sun, Bernard Tomic opened up about the party after his defeat at the beginning of the US Open: «When you have about 14 million, $ 50,000 is only about 0.36 % of it, so for me it is a small amount, even if for some people it doesn’t seem to be one. I earned this money. People think that I won the lottery, but this is not true».
Grigor Dimitrov
Marital status: single
The Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov, who lives in Monaco, has quite an impressive list of achievements. The 32-year-old is winner of eight ATP Singles titles and was ranked inside the top 10 in ATP Singles. In 2017, his success led the tennis player to being ranked No 9 in the world.
His fortune is estimated at 12.7 million dollars. Several years ago Grigor was ranked #7 in the list of the highest-paid tennis players, according to Forbes.
Interesting fact: Grigor Dimitrov is the only Bulgarian male tennis player that has been able to win an ATP title in singles tennis.
Radek Stepanek
Marital status: married to a former tennis player Nicole Vaidisova and raising their daughters Stella and Meda.
Radek Stepanek can also be added to the list of Czech tennis players who settled in Monaco. The winner of two Grand Slam tournaments, he began his career back in 1996. During this time, he managed to play against Roger Federer, Marat Safin, Christoph Rochus, Andy Murray and many others. Radek also has won bronze at the 2016 Olympics. In 2018, Radek Stepanek married his former wife Nicole Vaidisova for the second time. They first got married in 2010 and separated in 2013.
Interesting fact: Radek is not the only athlete in his family; his cousin is the Czech football goalkeeper Jaromír Blažek, a UEFA European Championship semi-finalist.
Tomáš Berdych
Marital status: married to Ester Satorova, a Czech model.
The 38-year-old Czech tennis player also lives in the Principality. Berdych is a former No. 4 in men’s singles, following the example of his compatriots, choosing the Principality as their home. Now the Czech is training on courts with a beautiful view of the sea. Tomáš, who is a two-time winner of the Davis Cup, began his professional career in 2002, although he has been playing tennis since he was five years old. In 2019, the 34-year-old Tomas Berdych confirmed completing his professional career. Over the recent years, the Czech tennis player has been struggling with his injuries. On November 16, he thus held a special farewell ceremony in London dedicated to the athletes who completed their professional career that year.
Interesting fact: Tomáš refused to participate in the Olympics in Rio because of the Zika virus fearing for the health of a future child.
Lucie Šafářová
Marital status: married to hockey player Tomáš Plekanec. At the end of 2019, they had their daughter Lea and in May 2022 their son Oliver.
Another Czech tennis player has become the neighbour of Monaco’s famous tennis players. Apparently, this winner of four Grand Slam tournaments in doubles could not resist the opportunities she could have in our small Principality. In general, the former No. 1 in doubles enjoys her life in beautiful Monaco.
Interesting fact: in 2006, Lucie took part in one of the shortest matches ever; it was a contest which lasted only 55 minutes. Unfortunately, she was defeated by her colleague Sania Mirza (6:2, 6:2).
Caroline Wozniacki
Marital status: Married to an American basketball player, David Lee. In 2021 the couple had a daughter Olivia Wozniacki Lee
The No. 2 in women’s singles began her career in 2005. Since then, the 33-year-old athlete has won 33 WTA tournaments, and was also ranked No. 1 in 2010. In summer 2019, Carolina Wozniacki married her fiancé, David Lee, in Italy.
Her fortune is estimated at 13 million dollars. According to Forbes, in 2018, she was the second highest-paid female athlete.
Interesting fact: in 2014, Caroline went through a painful breakup with the golfer Rory McIlroy. Caroline is now married to San Antonio basketball player David Lee. And it seems that things are going much better in her personal life.
Miloš Raonic
Marital status: married to Belgian model Camille Ringoir.
The Canadian tennis player also moved to Monaco, becoming a resident of the Principality like his «colleagues» on court. Since 2014, permanent injuries have not allowed the tennis player to fully perform at tournaments. Nevertheless, subsequently, two years later, Miloš reached the final of the Masters series in Indian Wells, but lost to the finest racket in the world at the time, Novak Djokovic. In 2018, he returned to the court after another injury, but his return has not been easy. Perhaps his losses last year were due to lack of time preparing for the season due to injury. In 2020, Milos Raonic made it to the Australian Open quite finals and then lost to Novak Djokovic.
Interesting fact: in July, 2012 Miloš took part in the longest tennis match ever played during the Summer Olympic Games. His battle against Jo-Wilfred Tsonga lasted 237 minutes and in the end Milos lost (6:3, 3:6, 25:23).
