Roger Federer has become the first tennis player to top the annual Forbes list of the world's highest paid athletes, surpassing football star Lionel Messi.

The Swiss tennis great, owner of a men's record 20 Grand Slam singles titles, earned 106.3 million U.S. dollars in the past year, including 100 million U.S. dollars via endorsements, to move up four places and become the first player from his sport to top the list.

Football players Cristiano Ronaldo (105 million U.S. dollars), Messi (104 million U.S. dollars) and Neymar (95.5 million U.S. dollars) and American basketball player LeBron James (88.2 million U.S. dollars) rounded out the top five.

"The coronavirus pandemic triggered salary cuts for football stars Messi and Ronaldo, clearing the way for a tennis player to rank as the world's highest-paid athlete for the first time," said Kurt Badenhausen, senior editor at Forbes.

"Roger Federer is the perfect pitchman for companies, resulting in an unparalleled endorsement portfolio of blue-chip brands worth 100 million U.S. dollars a year for the tennis great."

Japan's Naomi Osaka, who was ranked 29th on the list, surpassed fellow tennis player Serena Williams (36 million U.S. dollars) as the world's highest-earning female athlete, bagging 37.4 million U.S. dollars.

Osaka and Williams were the only women on the Forbes list.

Basketball players led all sports with 35 players among the top 100. American football occupied 31 spots, none higher than six-times Super Bowl champion Tom Brady (45 million U.S. dollars) who was ranked 25th.

Football was the next most represented sport with 14 players, followed by tennis (six), boxing and mixed marital arts (five), golf (four), motor racing (three), and baseball and cricket with one each.

(With input from Reuters)