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From Naomi Osaka to Serena Williams and Emma Raducanu, the highest-paid female athletes of 2022 have finally been released as the ladies in sport continue to break fresh grounds.
Japanese Tennis star Naomi Osaka leads the pack of female stars for the third year running, with tennis legend Serena Williams, once again just behind in second.
However, there are a group of rising stars who are narrowing the gap on these tennis icons and businesswomen.
Pulse Sports reviews the top 10 highest-paid female athletes of 2022 according to Forbes’ latest rankings.
#10 Minjee Lee
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Sport: Golf
Nationality: Australia
Endorsements/Off-the-Court Earnings: $2,500,000
On Field Earnings: $4,800,000
Total Earnings: $7,300,000.
Interestingly, Lee has landed in the top ten of the LPGA Tour’s official money list in each of the last five years and finished second in 2022 at $3.8 million thanks in part to her victory at the U.S. Women’s Open in June, the second major championship win of her career.
She took home a $1 million bonus courtesy of a win at the the Aon Risk Reward Challenge, a season-long competition that rewards the player with the best average score to par.
Incidentally, Aon, a British financial services firm, is among her sponsors, alongside brands drawn to her South Korean heritage like Hana Bank and apparel company WAAC.
#9 Jessica Pegula
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Sport: Tennis
Nationality: U.S.A
Endorsements/Off-the-Court Earnings: $4,000,000
On-the-Court Earnings: $3,600,000
Total Earnings: $7,600,000.
Pegula is the daughter of the billionaire NFL club Buffalo Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula.
However, she has yet to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam but ended the season as the highest-ranked American tennis player at No. 3, four spots ahead of Coco Gauff.
The late-blooming star already has her own skincare line called Ready 24 and will look to add to her endorsement deals with Adidas, Yonex and Ready Nutrition after signing with talent agency GSE Worldwide in November.
#8 Simone Biles
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Sport: Gymnastics
Nationality: U.S.A
Endorsements/Off-the-Court Earnings: $10,000,000
On Field Earnings: $0
Total Earnings: $10,000,000.
In 2022, Biles starred in a Super Bowl commercial for software company BMC and in new ads for Subway and Powerade while launching a collection of activewear with Athleta.
She also added an equity stake in cybersecurity firm Axonius and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the U.S’s highest civilian honor—in July alongside US Women’s National Football team star Megan Rapinoe.
#7 Coco Gauff
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Sport: Tennis
Nationality: U.S.A
Endorsements/Off-the-Court Earnings: $8,000,000
On-the-Court Earnings: $3,100,000
Total Earnings: $11,100,000.
Gauff came close to winning the 2022 French Open, reaching the final in both singles and doubles, and many in the sport believe it’s only a matter of time before she wins a Grand Slam.
She recently signed an extension with sportswear brand New Balance, and deal is believed to have come with a substantial pay raise, and her off-court pay could be even higher if not for the slow-and-steady approach taken by her agent, Alessandro Barel Di Sant Albano of Team8, and her parents—father Corey, who coaches her, and mother Candi, who homeschooled her.
The goal has been to maximize her long-term opportunities while minimizing distractions from tennis and the chances of eventually burning out.
#6 Venus Williams
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Sport: Tennis
Nationality: U.S.A
Endorsements/Off-the-Court Earnings: $12,000,000
On-the-Court Earnings: $100,000
Total Earnings: $12,100,000.
Despite failing to win any of her matches in the four tournaments she participated in this year, Williams has already received a wild card to compete at the Australian Open next month.
Traditional tennis sponsors would typically turn up their noses at a player ranked 1,007th in the world, but Williams’ endorsement deals center much more on her celebrity than her performance at Grand Slams.
She also keeps a busy schedule as a speaker, making more than 30 appearances this year, each of them worth six figures.
#5 Iga Świątek
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Sport: Tennis
Nationality: Poland
Endorsements/Off-the-Court Earnings: $5,000,000
On-the-Court Earnings: $9,900,000
Total Earnings: $14,900,000.
Świątek won the 2022 French Open and U.S. Open titles, 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’s currently ranked No. 1 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, Świątek 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.
#4 Emma Raducanu
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Sport: Tennis
Nationality: Great Britain
Endorsements/Off-the-Court Earnings: $18,000,000
On-the-Court Earnings: $700,000
Total Earnings: $18,700,000.
Raducanu’s fairytale 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.
#3 Eileen Gu
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Sport: Freestyle Skiing
Nationality: China
Endorsements/Off-the-Court Earnings: $20,000,000
On field Earnings: $100,000
Total Earnings: $20,100,000.
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.
#2 Serena Williams
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Sport: Tennis
Nationality: U.S.A
Endorsements/Off-the-Court Earnings: $45,000,000
On-the-Court Earnings: $300,000
Total Earnings: $45,300,000
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.
She also 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.
The 41-year-old American reportedly earns more of her income from endorsements than any other athlete on this list.
Her top deals are with AbbVie, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Audemars Piguet, Block Inc, DIRECTV, Inc., Ford Motor, Gatorade, Gucci, Hanesbrands, Nike, Subway, Tonal and Wilson Sporting Goods.
#1 Naomi Osaka
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Sport: Tennis
Nationality: Japan
Endorsements/Off-the-Court Earnings: $58,000,000
On-the-Court Earnings: $1,200,000
Total Earnings: $59,200,000
% of Total Earnings Coming From Endorsements: 97.97%
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.
The 25-year-old Japanese bagged some top deals including Airbnb, Beats Electronics, BodyArmor, GoDaddy, Hyperice, Levi Strauss & Co, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Mastercard, Morinaga & Company, Nike, Nissan Motor, Panasonic, Sweetgreen, Tag Heuer, Workday, Wowow Inc and Yonex.
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