What is Cliff Drysdale’s net worth?
Cliff Drysdale is a South African former professional tennis player who has a net worth of $4 million. Cliff Drysdale was a top-ranked tennis player in the 1960s and early 1970s, winning 35 singles titles and 24 doubles titles during his career. From 1972 to 1974, Drysdale served as president of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he co-founded with Donald Dell and Jack Kramer. In 2013, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In 1979, Cliff joined the new sports network ESPN as a tennis commentator. He also owns Cliff Drysdale Tennis, which "specializes in tennis, pickleball and paddle tennis facility design, program development, daily operations support, membership sales and marketing at clubs and resorts around the world.”
Early life
Cliff Drysdale was born Eric Clifford Drysdale on 26 May 1941 in Nelspruit (now known as Mbombela, Mpumalanga Province), South Africa. He attended Gray High School, Port Elizabeth.
Career
Drysdale won the singles title at the 1963 and 1964 Dutch Open tournaments. In 1965, he competed at the U.S. Championships, reaching the singles final. He also won the singles title at the 1965 German Championships. At the US Open, Cliff won five singles titles and six doubles titles. He was known for his two-handed backhand stroke and is considered a pioneer of this movement. According to his official website, Drysdale was "a member of the esteemed ‘Handsome Eight’ signed by Lamar Hunt in 1967, and his presence on the WCT circuit in the 1970s was vital to the evolution of the game.” In 1972, he co-founded the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) with Donald Dell and Jack Kramer, and served as the organization’s first president. Cliff finished his professional tennis career with a singles record of 380-218 and a doubles record of 188-159. He played on the South African Davis Cup team from 1962 to 1967 and from 1973 to 1974.
After her retirement, Drysdale joined the new sports network ESPN as a tennis commentator in 1979. She remained with the network until September 2025, and her last job for them was calling a US Open semi-final match between Jessica Pegula and Aryna Sabalenka. After Bob Ley retired in 2019, Cliff became ESPN’s longest-serving commentator. In 1998, Drysdale was honored with the William M. Johnston Award, which is given to "that male player who for character, sportsmanship, manners, spirit of cooperation and contribution to the growth of the game ranks first in the opinion of the selection committee.” He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013, and the Hall of Fame website says of him: "As a player, activist and broadcaster, Drysdale has been the ‘voice’ of tennis for nearly five decades, and in all three capacities, no one has represented the game with more dignity, grace and distinction than the man from Nelspruit, South Africa. While Drysdale’s playing career is not laden with major championships, throughout his career During 12 years into his amateur and professional career, he was known as a competitive and combative ‘tough’, a threat to win any tournament he entered.”
personal life
Cliff became a naturalized American citizen after retiring from professional tennis.
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