Female athletes are gradually dominating the ranking in term of highest paid and endorsement and I love to see it. It may take a while for them to reach top 10 but so far so good, a woman is spotted at No. 29 and 33 respectively in the top 100 richest athlete for 2020 unlike that of 2019 were Serena was the only woman on the list at No. 63.
The disparity in pay between both genders isn’t a new it’s a fight that might never end but there’s lack of variety in women sport when it comes to highest paid or richest for women, Tennis players make top ten. Where are the soccer stars, baseball, football, basketball and auto racers?
Well, it mostly depends on how popular and the attention that sport brings, the more popular it is the more money, endorsements and sponsors the athlete gets
I’m totally intrigued by female earnings, endorsements and wins in sport. Hence, I bring to you the top 10 richest female athletes.
- Venus Williams
Latest reported earnings: $5.9 million
She may not be as popular right now or at her best but like her sister, Venus is an Icon in the sport of Tennis which definitely keeps the pocket lowing as she makes a comeback. She’s had her successes having made the final of both the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2017.
Her marketing prowess is unmatched, she’s No. 2 behind Serena in The Marketing Arm’s ranking of brand-friendly female athletes, with high points for aspiration. She designs her own clothing line Eleven and sells it through the Gilte Group. Shehas teamed up with clean beauty retailer Credo to launch an SPF duo under her brand. She sits on massive deals made over years of her career including a $40 million partnership with Reebok and ties with Tide, Electronic Arts, Wilson, Kraft, Ralph Lauren and Tide. She also Williams owns a small interest in the Miami Dolphins with Sister Serena.
- Elina Svitolina
Last reported Pay: $6.1 million
Elina has won more than $15 million in prize money during her career. Her highest career ranking came at #3 in September 2017. Svitolina has won 13 WTA singles titles including at the 2018 WTA Finals. She won the Tour Finals in 2018, her wins also include the Dubai Tennis Championships, the Italian Open, and the Canadian Open in 2017 and the Italian Open again in 2018.
She is the fifth-ranked player. In 2019, she won the quarterfinal of the Australian Open and the semifinal in Wimbledon.
Svitolina is currently sponsored by Nike, Wilson, Superior Golf and Poustovit, among others. She has pledged her support to cancer-affected patients by donating to the Alcides & Rosaura Diniz Foundation (ARD).
- Karolína Plíšková
Last reported: $6.3 million
While she has never won a Grand Slam tournament, Karolína Plíšková is currently the third-ranked tennis player by the WTA, and finished 2016-18 inside the top 10. Though she has won multiple WTA tournaments, the closest she has come in a Grand Slam is making the final of the 2016 US Open.
Plíšková’s lack of a Grand Slam title means she doesn’t quite have the endorsement deals others on this list have. The majority of her money came from winnings.
Karolína Plíšková became an ambassador of luxury watch brand, Hublot, in 2017, brand ambassador of leading skincare brand, Avène, in the Czech Republic, face of Bitters power gum in 2018 and brand ambassador of Mototechna.
She also endorses ATT Investment and J&T Bank for almost 3 years now. Global sports equipment company, Babolat, sponsors her tennis racquets. Largest Czech airline, Smartwings, also sponsors and Waste processing company EKO MB is also a partner.
- Caroline Wozniacki
Latest reported earnings: $7.5 million
Caroline is a Danish former professional player who reached No 1 in singles and the first woman from a Scandinavian country to hold the top ranking position in both 2010 and 2011.
She bagged 30 WTA singles titles, including six in 2010 and 2011 which was the most in a year by a WTA player from 2008–2011
She was runner-up at the 2009 US Open and the 2010 WTA Tour Championships and at the 2014 US Open to Serena Williams. She won the 2006 Wimbledon girls’ singles title and also holds two WTA titles in doubles. In 2008, Wozniacki won the title of WTA Newcomer of the Year.
In 2017, she won the season-ending WTA Finals in Singapore for the first time in her career. Wozniacki won her maiden Grand Slam title at the 2018 Australian Open and returned to the No. 1 ranking on 29 January 2018.
In 2009, Wozniacki endorsed tennis apparel designed by Stella McCartney for Adidas, Her sponsors were Babolat, Rolex, Adidas, USANA, The Players’ Tribune, and Mundipharma. On 6 December 2019, Wozniacki announced that she would retire from professional tennis following the 2020 Australian Open, held in January.
- Sloane Stephens
Latest reported earnings: $9.6 million
She got to the top spot of No 3 in the world after Wimbledon 2018, was the 2017 US Open champion, and has won six WTA singles titles in total.
She won her first Grand slam singles at the US open in her fifth tournament after returning frim a foot injury, she was awarded WTA comeback player of the year for her successful season, In 2018, Stephens continued her success by winning her first Premier Mandatory title at the Miami Open, reaching a second Grand Slam singles final at the French Open, entering the top 10 for the first time, and finishing runner-up at the WTA Finals.
She is currently ranked No 6 in the world and pocketed $14,692,592 over the course of her career. Stephens has also been endorsed by companies like Head, Under Armour and Precision Nutrition. Not long after winning her first ever US Open, Stephens signed an endorsement deal with Nike.
- Simona Halep
Latest reported earnings: $10.2 million
Simona was ranked No1 worldwide twice in single between 2017 and 2019, she was No. 1 for 64 weeks, which ranks tenth in the history of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings
She has won 20 WTA singles titles and has finished runner-up 17 times. Halep has won two Grand Slam singles titles, at the 2018 French Open and the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.
She reached three Grand Slam finals at the 2014 French Open, the 2017 French Open, and the 2018 Australian Open before winning her first Grand Slam singles title at the 2018 French Open.
In 2014 and 2015, she was the WTA Most Popular Player of the Year consecutively as well as the WTA Fan Favorite Singles Player of the Year for three consecutive years in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Simona Halep has been one of, if not the most successful women’s tennis player of the past few years, finishing as WTA’s top-ranked player in both 2017 and 2018
She signed a contract with Nike, but Prior to that, the Romanian’s apparel was supplied by Lacoste, and later, Adidas. In November 2014 she was also sponsored by Vodafone Romania for three years. She has endorsed Swiss luxury watchband, Hublot since 2016 and has been a brand ambassador for the Mercedes-Benz Romania since 2017.
While Halep boasts Nike among others for endorsement deals, she is the first player on the list to have made more in winnings over the past year than through her endorsements.
- Maria Sharapova
Latest reported earnings: $10.5 million
Before her retirement, she was the best Tennis player in the world for a period of time but for some reasons and suspension after testing positive for a banned substance, she’s just among the best.
She won five Grand Slam titles, two at the French Open and one each at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open, winning 36 titles in total, including the year-ending WTA Finals in her debut in 2004. She also won three doubles titles and the only Russian to hold a career Grand Slam
In June 2011, she was named one of the “30 Legends of Women’s Tennis: Past, Present and Future” by Time and in March 2012 was named one of the “100 Greatest of All Time” by Tennis Channel.
She has been named highest-paid female athlete in the world for 11 consecutive years and earned US$285 million (including prize money) since she turned pro in 2001.
She endorsed the mobile phone company Motorola, a contract with Land Rover and Canon, as well as the brand Tag Heuer and jeweler Tiffany and Co., received sponsorships from Gatorade and Tropicana and also, she is the brand ambassador for Porsche
She launched the ‘Nike Maria Sharapova Collection ‘with Nike and operates her own candy brand, Sugarpova
- Angelique Kerber
Latest reported earnings: $11.8 million
A former world No. 1 and winner of three Grand Slam tournaments, Angelique made her professional debut in 2003 and rose to prominence upon reaching the semifinals of the 2011 US Open as the No. 92-ranked player in the world. She ascended to the top of the rankings on 12 September 2016, becoming the 22nd and oldest player to achieve the number-one ranking for the first time.
She has won 12 career singles titles across all surfaces on the WTA Tour, including the aforementioned 3 Grand Slam titles: the 2016 Australian Open, the 2016 US Open and the 2018 Wimbledon Championships. She has also won an Olympic silver medal while representing Germany at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Kerber is currently ranked world No. 21 as of March 9, 2020.
Angelique Kerber is the global ambassador of Stuttgart car manufacturer Porsche, Her sports gear is sponsored by Adidas and she uses the rackets by Yonex. She is an ambassador for the US cosmetics company Bare Minerals, also for the Japanese brand, Shiseido, She is also the global brand ambassador for Australian health snack brand Slim Secrets and also signed an agreement with Rolex. Her endorsement made her the second-highest-paid female athlete in the world in the annual Forbes list of 2017.
- Serena Williams
Latest reported earnings: $29.2 million
Serena was former world No1 in women single’s tennis, she has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time.
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranked her world No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017.
She holds the most Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles combined among active players. Her 39th Grand Slam titles put her joint-third on the all-time list and second in the Open Era: 23 in singles, 14 in women’s doubles, and two in mixed doubles. She is the most recent female player to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously (2002–03 and 2014–15) and the third player to achieve this twice.
She is also the most recent player to have won a Grand Slam title on each surface (hard, clay and grass) in one calendar year (2015). She is also, together with her older sister Venus, the most recent player to have held all four Grand Slam women’s doubles titles simultaneously (2009–10).
Serena has won a record of 13 Grand Slam singles titles on hard court and holds the Open Era record for most titles won at the Australian Open (7), holds the Open Era record for most titles won at the US Open with Chris Evert (6) and she also holds the record for the most women’s singles matches won at majors with 351 matches.
At Auckland Open 2020 Williams won her first title as a mother. With that title, she has won at least one title in four separate decades.
Also, throughout her thriving career, Williams was engaged in numerous on-court outbursts and that has led her to pay hefty fines. Recently, she was fined US $17,500 during US Open 2018 finals for her series of meltdowns.
It won’t come as a surprise that she usually flooded with endorsements as a former No1 highest paid female athlete now No2 in the world and currently ranks No 33 highest paid athlete and being one of the most marketable players, Her sponsors include Nike, Wilson, Gatorade, Delta Air Lines, Aston Martin, Pepsi, beats by Dre headphones, IBM, Intel, and Chase Bank.
Serena Williams is also the Chief Sporting Officer for Aston Martin. She penned the contract back in June 2015.
- Naomi Osaka
Latest reported earnings: $37 million
Currently ranked No1 by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in the world, and is the first player of Haitian or Asian descent to hold the top ranking in singles.
She has won five titles on the WTA Tour, including two titles at both the Grand Slam and Premier Mandatory levels. Osaka won her first two Grand Slam singles titles in back-to-back Grand Slam tournaments at the 2018 US Open and the 2019 Australian Open, and is the first player to achieve this feat since Jennifer Capriati in 2001.
Naomi is one of its brightest young stars and has become one of the best players in tennis, she made her breakthrough into the upper echelon of women’s tennis in 2018 when she won her first WTA title at Indian Wells. Later in the year, she defeated 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams in the final of the US Open to become the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Naomi Osaka has taken the throne of highest-paid female athlete from her idol Serena Williams and replaced her as the highest paid female athlete With $37.4 million in prize money and endorsements over the past year setting an all-time earnings record for a female athlete in a single year and ranks No. 29 among the 100 highest-paid athletes
Osaka has been a marketing gold mine in her native Japan and around the world. The two-time Grand Slam champion is endorsing the American firm IMG since the year 2016, over the past ten years, Yonex has been sponsoring her tennis rackets, Nike supports her with apparel, She is the ambassador for Japanese automobile manufacturer Nissan Motor and Japanese electronics manufacturer Citizen Watch. She also endorses several other Japanese companies, including noodle maker Nissin Foods, cosmetics producer Shiseido, the broadcasting station Wowow, and airline All Nippon Airways (ANA).
Naomi Osaka is the brand ambassador for Mastercard. In 2019 Osaka was declared one of the most marketable female athletes in the world collecting $34 million from brands and No female athlete from any other sport besides tennis has ever made this elite rank.
Source
www.essentiallysports.com
www.forbes.com
en.wikipedia.org
