Meet the billionaire former tennis star and Wimbledon semi-finalist who is worth twice as much as Cristiano Ronaldo despite retiring 45 YEARS ago

A former tennis star is now worth a staggering £1.6 billion despite retiring from the sport 45 years ago.

Ion Tiriac, 85, became a professional tennis player in the 1960s and won his first title at the 1970 French Open.

Alongside fellow Romanian Ilie Nastase, he won the men’s doubles, his only major title.

A semi-final at Wimbledon the same year was his second best result.

Given that Tiriac is not a household name, it is not surprising that he made the most of his fortune after hanging up his racquet.

In fact, the Romanian only earned £200,000 from his on-field efforts.

After his retirement in 1979, Tiriac created the Tiriac Group.

The company invests in real estate, financial services and a multitude of other businesses.

He thus became Romania’s first official billionaire in 2007, which allowed him to accumulate a huge collection of luxury cars.

The 85-year-old owns around 400 luxury car and motorcycle models in his Tiriac collection, which can be seen in Otopeni.

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He is now worth a staggering £1.6 billion, more than double Cristiano Ronaldo’s net worth.

Ronaldo is currently estimated to be worth between £500m and £600m and reportedly earns £175m a year at Al Nassr.

A significant portion of its revenue comes from additional advertising contracts.

The Manchester United and Real Madrid legend is one of the richest athletes in the world alongside Jon Rahm, Lionel Messi and LeBron James.