The world’s highest-paid female athletes 2022
A group of rising stars is narrowing the gap with Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams, with eight women earning at least $10 (Fj $21.98) million apiece for the first time.
By the time Serena Williams announced in August that she was ready to hang up her racket after 27 years in professional tennis, she had built an estimated fortune of $260 (FJ $571.57) million. That made her one of only two athletes, along with her old rival Maria Sharapova, on the list of America’s richest self-made women. Williams stands out in any number of ways, not just with her open-era-record 23 Grand Slam singles titles but with her career prize money of $94.8 (FJ $208.40m) —more than double the WTA Tour’s next-best figure, and more than quadruple the LPGA Tour’s top mark. With total career earnings of $450 (FJ $571.57m) including endorsements and other business endeavors, she is light years ahead of any other female athlete.
The good news, however, is that, after paving the way for other female athletes to start earning bigger bucks, she may not be such an outlier for long. Fellow tennis star Naomi Osaka has joined her as one of just two women on the list of the world’s 50 highest-paid athletes, and in fact surpassed her in annual earnings starting in 2020.
Now, a new group of marketable sports stars is coming of age and already earning millions. In fact, eight of 2022’s top-earning female athletes made at least $10m (FJ $21.98) , double the number from a year ago and the first time more than seven women have hit that milestone since Forbes introduced the ranking in 2008.
Among the women in that earnings stratosphere this year are four newcomers to the list: freestyle skier Eileen Gu and tennis aces Emma Raducanu, Iga wi tek and Coco Gauff. In all, the world’s 25 highest-paid female athletes hauled in an estimated $285 (FJ $626.53) m in 2022 before taxes and agents’ fees, with the top ten accounting for $194 (Fj $426.48) million of that total—up 17% from the 2021 top ten’s record $167 (FJ $367.12) m.
With $51.1 (FJ $112.34) million in earnings, Osaka is No. 1 for the third straight year, followed by Williams with $41.3 (FJ $ 90.70)m.
■No.1. $51.1 (FJ $112.34m) : Naomi Osaka SPORT: TENNIS | NATIONALITY: JAPAN | AGE: ON-FIELD: $1.1 mil • OFF-FIELD:
25 |
$50 mil
Osaka was hampered by injuries for much of the year and lost a significant sponsorship when FTX declared bankruptcy in November, only eight months after their deal was announced. But her endorsement portfolio is still among the best in sports—only six members of Forbes’ 2022 athletes list made more than her $50 million off the field. Osaka also stays busy as an entrepreneur, having cofounded a skin-care line, a production company and a talent agency and, as of this month, invested in a pickleball team.
■No.2. $41.3 (FJ $90.79m) : Serena Williams SPORT: TENNIS | NATIONALITY: U.S. | AGE: 41 | ON-FIELD: $0.3 mil • OFF-FIELD: $41 mil
Two months after a first-person essay in Vogue seemed to indicate Williams was retiring, she clarified at a TechCrunch conference that she was “not retired” and that the chances she would return to tennis were “very high.” Even if the break from the game indeed turns out to be temporary, she has capitalized on the time off with a string of lucrative speaking dates. And she has plenty to keep her occupied, including a venture firm that has investments in more than 70 startups and a new company she cofounded to sell topical pain relief products. She also made a cameo in the new film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
■No.3. $20.1 (FJ $44.19m) : Eileen Gu
SPORT: NATIONALITY:
ON-FIELD: OFFFIELD: $20m
Gu, who was born and raised in San Francisco but represents her mother’s homeland of China in international competition, cemented her rise to global stardom at the Beijing Olympics in February, winning two gold medals and a silver. Her success has extended far beyond the ski slopes. Currently a student at Stanford University, she has a deep list of sponsors that includes Red Bull, Therabody and Louis Vuitton, as well as Chinese companies Mengniu Dairy and JD.com. She also models, as a client of the powerful agency IMG.
FREESTYLE SKIING | CHINA | AGE: 19 $0.1m •
■No.4. $18.7 (FJ $41.11m) : Emma Raducanu SPORT: TENNIS | NATIONALITY: BRITAIN | AGE: 20 | ON-FIELD: $0.7 mil • OFF-FIELD: $18 mil
Raducanu’s Cinderella run to the 2021 U.S. Open title as an 18-year-old qualifier opened the endorsement floodgates, with British Airways, Dior, Evian, HSBC, Porsche, Tiffany and Vodafone joining Nike as sponsors. Her world singles ranking, which peaked at No. 10, is down to No. 80, but the young Brit still holds plenty of appeal for marketers. For starters, a recent report by the data firm SponsorUnited found that her branded posts on social media had the highest average engagement of any female tennis player.
■No.5. $14.9 (FJ $32.76m) : Iga Swiatek SPORT: NATIONALITY: OFF-FIELD:
TENNIS | POLAND | AGE: 21 | ON-FIELD: $9.9 mil • $5 mil
Swiatek won this year’s French Open and U.S. Open, giving her three Grand Slam singles titles for her career— just one behind Osaka for the most among active women’s players not named Williams. She secured the No. 1 spot both in the world rankings and on the year’s prize-money list by doubling up No. 2 Ons Jabeur in terms of ranking points and dollars. In September, wi tek signed with IMG, the most powerful agency in tennis, to add to a set of endorsements that includes Asics and PZU, an insurance company in her native Poland.