Andy Murray closing in £2 million for 2008

While Andy Murray doesn’t quite have enough money yet to buy a yacht of the size of the Queen K, the successful defence of his title in St Petersburg on Sunday meant that his total prize-money for the season is now just some loose change away from $3 million (£1.9 million).

Murray’s tournament victory was worth $171,000, which put his total for the year at $2.99m, and he’ll add to that figure at the Paris Masters this week and then at the Masters Cup in Shanghai. But the way Murray has been playing over the past few weeks, he deserves every dollar that drops into his pockets.

With incentives in place to encourage the top players to feature at the tournaments towards the end of the calendar, Murray will receive a bonus of $250,000 for turning up to play in Paris and for finishing the year at No 4 in the rankings.

Roger Federer, who won his third successive title at the tournament in his home town of Basle when he beat David Nalbandian on Sunday, 6-3, 6-4, is getting close to $5m. He recently overtook Pete Sampras in terms of career prize-money in the men’s game, with on-court earnings of more than $43m. Rafael Nadal, the world No 1, has earned $6.7m for the year.

Murray has spent some winnings on a Range Rover Sport, but girlfriend Kim Sears will probably drive as he still hasn’t passed his test.