Tennis continues to dominate the world of ladies’s sports activities, with seven of the High 10 earners on Forbes’ 2024 listing of highest-paid feminine athletes coming from the WTA Tour. The affect of tennis stars within the monetary panorama of ladies’s sports activities is evident, with even Venus Williams, who performed simply two tournaments this 12 months, securing the ninth spot.
The monetary evolution of ladies’s skilled sports activities
For the primary time ever, 11 ladies surpassed $10 million in earnings, marking a big milestone within the monetary progress of ladies’s sports activities. Main the cost is 20-year-old Coco Gauff, whose estimated $34.4 million earnings make 2024 one of the crucial profitable years ever recorded for a feminine athlete. This spectacular complete locations her simply behind Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams on the all-time earnings listing. Osaka peaked at $57.3 million in 2021, whereas Williams reached $45.9 million the identical 12 months.
Total, the 20 highest-paid feminine athletes collectively earned over $258 million in 2024, a 15% enhance from 2023. This progress is a promising indicator of the rising monetary viability of ladies’s skilled sports activities, at the same time as the ladies’s complete earnings nonetheless pale compared to the $2.23 billion raked in by the High 20 male athletes on Forbes’ listing. Notably, no ladies appeared within the High 50 of the general highest-paid athletes rating.
Regardless of the spectacular progress, a stark distinction stays in how women and men earn their fortunes in sports activities. Solely 4 of the High 20 ladies earned extra on the sector than off it, with their collective on-field earnings of $68 million accounting for simply 26% of their complete earnings. That is virtually the reverse of the High 20 male athletes, who derived 72% of their $2.23 billion from on-field efficiency. Unsurprisingly, tennis gamers contributed the lion’s share of the ladies’s on-field earnings.
High 10 ladies’s tennis performers and their stories1. Coco Gauff – $34.4 million ($9.4 million on-field, $25 million off-field)
Gauff’s phenomenal 12 months noticed her earn $9.4 million on the courtroom, together with $4.8 million for successful the season-ending match in Riyadh. Off the courtroom, she added $25 million by way of sponsorships with manufacturers like New Stability, Carol’s Daughter, and Bare Juice, securing her place because the highest-paid feminine athlete of 2024.
2. Iga Swiatek – $23.8 million ($8.8 million on-field, $15 million off-field)
In 2024, Iga Swiatek confronted a difficult 12 months marked by a doping scandal late within the season, which finally price her the No. 1 rating. Regardless of the setback, Swiątek’s earnings remained robust, ending simply $100,000 shy of her 2023 complete of $23.9 million. Off the courtroom, she expanded her spectacular sponsor portfolio, including main manufacturers like Lancôme and Lego to her endorsement offers.
4. Zheng Qinwen – $20.6 million ($5.6 million on-field, $15 million off-field)
Zheng Qinwen’s 12 months was outlined by her Olympic gold medal triumph in Paris, a victory that cemented her standing as a famous person in her residence nation of China. Her exceptional success attracted high-profile endorsements from outstanding manufacturers, together with Audi, milk tea chain Chagee, Lancôme, and smartphone producer Vivo, additional elevating her profile as a sought-after ambassador.
5. Aryna Sabalenka – $18.7 million ($9.7 million on-field, $9 million off-field)
The world No. 1 Sabalenka, who received the Australian Open and US Open, leads all gamers with $9.7 million in prize cash, surpassing Gauff’s $9.4 million. The WTA Participant of the 12 months 2024 added one other $9 million off the courtroom by way of endorsements with Audemars Piguet, Grasp & Dynamic headphones and Oakberry.
6. Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu – $12.9 million ($0.9 million on-field, $12 million off-field)
Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu tie for the sixth spot on the listing, with their earnings predominantly pushed by endorsements. For each gamers, solely 7% of their $12.9 million earnings got here from on-court efficiency, whereas a exceptional 93% was generated off the sector by way of profitable sponsorship offers.
Their monetary success underscores their vital world affect and marketability past the tennis courtroom.
9. Venus Williams – $12.1 million ($0.1 million on-field, $12 million off-field)
Regardless of competing in solely two matches in 2024—each losses—Venus Williams stays a monetary powerhouse. Her ventures, together with the AI-powered inside design platform Palazzo, talking engagements, and model collaborations, solidify her place on the listing.
Diversifying the rankings
A promising signal for the rising monetary viability of ladies’s skilled sports activities is the growing range on this 12 months’s listing of highest-paid feminine athletes, at the same time as tennis continues to dominate. The 2024 rating options athletes from a wider vary of disciplines, together with three golfers, two basketball gamers, a soccer participant, a gymnast, a freestyle skier, and a badminton participant. Notably, among the many High 10, freestyle skier Eileen Gu secured the third spot, golfer Nelly Korda ranked eighth, and gymnast Simone Biles positioned tenth.
Past the High 10
Past the High 10, a number of extra WTA gamers make notable appearances on the listing. Jessica Pegula ranks eleventh with $10.2 million, comprised of $4.2 million from on-court earnings and $6 million from endorsements. Jasmine Paolini, at 14th, earned $8 million, with the bulk ($6.5 million) coming from on-field efficiency and $1.5 million from off-field ventures. Elena Rybakina follows in fifteenth place with $7.9 million, evenly cut up between $3.9 million on-field and $4 million off-field. In the meantime, Leylah Fernandez ranks 18th, incomes $6.5 million, with $1.5 million from prize cash and $5 million by way of sponsorships and endorsements.
The Path Forward
Though feminine athletes nonetheless earn considerably lower than their male counterparts, the expansion in complete earnings and the growing diversification of the rankings level to a brighter future. Tennis gamers stay trailblazers, however different sports activities are making their mark, promising a extra balanced monetary panorama in years to come back.
