American tennis pro Sam Querrey has always stood tall. But 2017 has been a banner year for the 6’6″ Californian, who has already earned $1.625 million this year, winning two titles. Querrey continued his bold run at the US Open, taking advantage of a depleted field where customary high seeds Milos Raonic, Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, and Andy Murray were all absent with injuries. The 29-year-old Querrey has been on the tour since 2006 and in that time has amassed a doubles and singles prize money total of $9.3 million, but he has rarely looked better than he has in 2017.
Alas, Querrey ran into a hot Kevin Anderson in a late night/early morning thriller quarterfinal that sends the South African Anderson to his first Grand Slam semifinal at age 31. Had Querrey won, his career earnings mark would have soared above $10 million with the $920,000 awarded to each semifinalist in the singles draw. As it is, Querrey will pocket the $470,000 that US Open quarterfinalists earn, pushing him almost to the $10 million career mark. He’ll turn 30 in October.