Meet billionaire ex-tennis star worth double Ronaldo despite retiring 45 yrs ago

A FORMER tennis star is now worth a staggering £1.6BILLION – 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 finish at Wimbledon in the same year was his next best result.

Given that Tiriac is not a household name, it’s no surprise that he made the most of his fortune after hanging up his racket.

In fact, the Romanian made just £200,000 from his efforts on the court.

After retiring in 1979, Tiriac started the Tiriac Group.

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

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

The 85-year-old has around 400 luxury car and bike models in his Tiriac Collection, which can be viewed in Otopeni.

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

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

A significant amount of his earnings come from additional endorsement deals.

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