Osaka’s huge surge in earnings hides lack of parity with male stars

Naomi Osaka’s exponential rise to the top of the tennis world rankings over the past 12 months has carried her from relative obscurity to second highest paid female athlete in the world this year, trailing only Serena Williams.

Tellingly, though, her $24.3million (£20 million) total earnings mean she misses out on the top 100 combined male and female list, as Williams remains the only woman in tied 63rd.

The full female list, published by Forbes yesterday, also showed a downward trend in the earnings of elite sportswomen. In a top 10 that exclusively featured tennis players, aside from the top three earners the rest of the field experienced a drop in income.

Osaka, 21, has seen her off-court earnings rise from $1.5 million to $16million in just a year by Forbes’ calculations, and that does not include her multi-million-dollar Nike deal which was finalised after the earnings cut-off, suggesting her total could rise further in 2020.

Becoming world No1 after winning two grand slam titles up to June 1 paved the way for the Japanese breakout star’s rise in fortune. She becomes only the fourth female athlete to make $20 million in a 12-month period, joining three other tennis players: Williams, Maria Sharapova and Li Na. But the fact she remains outside the top 100 combined list speaks volumes about the lack of parity in the value placed on female athletes. While just 15 sportswomen made $5million in 2019, about 1,300 male athletes achieved the same figure.

Williams retained top spot for the fourth consecutive year.