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 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 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 million—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 million 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 $10 million, 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 Świątek and Coco Gauff.

In all, the world’s 25 highest-paid female athletes hauled in an estimated $285 million in 2022 before taxes and agents’ fees, with the top ten accounting for $194 million of that total—up 17% from the 2021 top ten’s record $167 million. With $51.1 million in earnings, Osaka is No. 1 for the third straight year, followed by Williams with $41.3 million.

“I think everybody’s seeing a tremendous amount of momentum with women’s sports and women’s sports sponsorships,” says Cameron Wagner, who leads Elevate Sports Ventures’ brand representation business as chief client officer. “We’ve made a ton of progress. We have a ton of progress left to be made, but brands are starting to see the value in women’s sports here and today as a driver of their business.”

Thayer Lavielle, executive vice president at The Collective, a women-focused division of powerhouse sports agency Wasserman, says the pace of change began to pick up in 2019, which, among other things, was the year the U.S. women’s national soccer team filed its discrimination lawsuit. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 wiped out ticket revenue and dented some sponsors’ budgets, but Lavielle notes that the experience may have had long-term benefits for women’s sports leagues, which in many cases were the first to return to play and which saw viewership increases as fans were stuck at home and glued to their devices.

This year featured no shortage of high points. The success of the UEFA Women’s Euro soccer tournament bled over to club leagues, with attendance in England’s Women’s Super League up 200% over last season and Germany’s Frauen-Bundesliga topping last season’s total attendance in just seven weeks. FIFA announced last week that it was launching a Women’s Club World Cup, not long after releasing a report that found that 77% of women’s soccer leagues had a title sponsor in 2022, up from 66% in 2021.

The WNBA, meanwhile, had its best regular-season viewership in 14 years, up 16% over 2021, and is now looking to add an expansion team. The National Women’s Soccer League final drew an audience of 915,000 on CBS, a 71% increase over last year, and the NCAA women’s basketball championship game averaged 4.85 million total viewers, the most of any college basketball game on ESPN—men’s or women’s—since 2008.

There is work still to do. A recent National Research Group report measured the value of all women’s sports broadcast rights in the U.S. at $47.7 million. That is an important step up from the $36.9 million of 2021, but it is a pittance next to, say, the $2.66 billion the NBA averages in its rights deals with ESPN and Turner Sports—a fee that is expected to at least double in new agreements that would start with the 2025-26 season. Against that backdrop, it is not especially surprising that WNBA salaries top out at about $230,000 while the NBA minimum is over $900,000.

The gap is narrower in individual sports such as tennis and golf, but while the LPGA Tour is boosting its prize pool to a record $101.4 million for 2023—up from $93.5 million—it will still be just a quarter of the PGA Tour’s $428.6 million. Even in tennis—which traditionally has the narrowest gender pay gap of any major sport and unsurprisingly accounts for 12 of this year’s 25 highest-paid female athletes, and seven of the top ten—women often make less at tournaments outside of the four Grand Slams.

The limited on-field opportunities mean female athletes have to rely on sponsorships and appearances much more than men. But “we have enough data and proof points that those media rights deals should be much, much higher the next go-around for many of these leagues,” says Elevate’s Wagner, and a couple of major women’s leagues will soon be able to put that theory to the test, starting with the NWSL, whose deals with Fox and ESPN expired at the end of this season. The Premier Hockey Federation, a women’s league based in the U.S., recently showed the kind of immediate impact a new media deal can have on player pay. Less than four months after announcing a broadcast extension with ESPN, the league doubled its salary cap, to $1.5 million.

So with cause for optimism around all three of sports’ major sources of revenue—attendance, broadcasting and sponsorships—and new investors adding to leagues’ and teams’ war chests, expect the athletes’ pay to just keep rising.

“I tell distributors and brands this all the time,” says Elizabeth Lindsey, who works with Lavielle as Wasserman’s president of brands and properties. “Ignore this at your peril because the future is definitely female, your audiences are demanding it, and those who get involved, and get involved early, will reap the benefits of doing good and doing good business at the same time.”

2022 HIGHEST-PAID FEMALE ATHLETES


#1. $51.1 mil

Naomi Osaka

SPORT: TENNIS | NATIONALITY: JAPAN | AGE: 25 | ON-FIELD: $1.1 mil • OFF-FIELD: $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.


#2. $41.3 mil

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.



#3. $20.1 mil

Eileen Gu

SPORT: FREESTYLE SKIING | NATIONALITY: CHINA | AGE: 19

ON-FIELD: $0.1 mil • OFF-FIELD: $20 mil

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.


#4. $18.7 mil

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.


#5. $14.9 mil

Iga Świątek

SPORT: TENNIS | NATIONALITY: POLAND | AGE: 21 | ON-FIELD: $9.9 mil • OFF-FIELD: $5 mil

Świątek 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, 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.



#6. $12.1 mil

Venus Williams

SPORT: TENNIS | NATIONALITY: U.S. | AGE: 42 | ON-FIELD: $0.1 mil • OFF-FIELD: $12 mil

Williams played just four tournaments in 2022—and lost each match—but she 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.


#7. $11.1 mil

Coco Gauff

SPORT: TENNIS | NATIONALITY: U.S. | AGE: 18 | ON-FIELD: $3.1 mil • OFF-FIELD: $8 mil

Gauff nearly had a breakthrough at the 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 New Balance 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 burnout.


#8. $10 mil

Simone Biles

SPORT: GYMNASTICS | NATIONALITY: U.S. | AGE: 25 | ON-FIELD: $0 • OFF-FIELD: $10 mil

Biles is the rare Olympic athlete who doesn’t seem to lose mindshare in a non-Olympic year. In 2022, she 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 soccer star Megan Rapinoe.


#9. $7.6 mil

Jessica Pegula

SPORT: TENNIS | NATIONALITY: U.S. | AGE: 28 | ON-FIELD: $3.6 mil • OFF-FIELD: $4 mil

Pegula, the daughter of the billionaire Buffalo Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula, 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 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.



#10. $7.3 mil

Minjee Lee

SPORT: GOLF | NATIONALITY: AUSTRALIA | AGE: 26 | ON-FIELD: $4.8 mil • OFF-FIELD: $2.5 mil

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 tacked on a $1 million bonus by winning 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.


#11. $7.2 mil

Candace Parker

SPORT: BASKETBALL | NATIONALITY: U.S. | AGE: 36 | ON-FIELD: $0.2 mil • OFF-FIELD: $7 mil

Parker, a seven-time WNBA All-Star, spends her off-seasons as one of Turner Sports’ top basketball analysts and was an executive producer for a Title IX documentary that aired on TBS in April.


#12. $7.1 mil

P.V. Sindhu

SPORT: BADMINTON | NATIONALITY: INDIA | AGE: 27 | ON-FIELD: $0.1 mil • OFF-FIELD: $7 mil

A household name in India, Sindhu followed her bronze-medal performance at the Olympics last year by picking up a gold in women’s singles and a silver in the mixed team event at the Commonwealth Games in August.


#13. $7 mil

Leylah Fernandez

SPORT: TENNIS | NATIONALITY: CANADA | AGE: 20 | ON-FIELD: $1 mil • OFF-FIELD: $6 mil

Like Emma Raducanu, Fernandez has been able to parlay her appearance in the 2021 U.S. Open final into lucrative endorsements, unveiling eight new sponsors this year, including Lululemon, Morgan Stanley and Google.



#14. $6.9 mil

Lydia Ko

SPORT: GOLF | NATIONALITY: NEW ZEALAND | AGE: 25 | ON-FIELD: $4.4 mil • OFF-FIELD: $2.5 mil

With three tournament wins, including the $2 million season finale, Ko finished just $591 shy of the LPGA Tour’s single-season prize-money record, set by Lorena Ochoa in 2007.


#15. $6.5 mil

Ons Jabeur

SPORT: TENNIS | NATIONALITY: TUNISIA | AGE: 28 | ON-FIELD: $5 mil • OFF-FIELD: $1.5 mil

Jabeur, who reached the final at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open to surge to No. 2 in the world singles rankings, is featured in the upcoming Netflix documentary series Break Point, from the producers of Formula 1: Drive to Survive.


#16. $6.2 mil

Paula Badosa

SPORT: TENNIS | NATIONALITY: SPAIN | AGE: 25 | ON-FIELD: $1.7 mil • OFF-FIELD: $4.5 mil

Badosa followed her breakout 2021 with a strong stretch that included a title in Sydney in January, briefly climbing to No. 2 in the singles rankings before drifting back to No. 13 to end the year.


#17. $5.9 mil

Lexi Thompson

SPORT: GOLF | NATIONALITY: U.S. | AGE: 27 | ON-FIELD: $1.9 mil • OFF-FIELD: $4 mil

A self-described skincare entrepreneur as the founder of Lexi Skin, Thompson has 13 brand partners and career earnings of nearly $14 million on the golf course.


#18. $5.8 mil

Jin Young Ko

SPORT: GOLF | NATIONALITY: SOUTH KOREA | AGE: 27 | ON-FIELD: $1.3 mil • OFF-FIELD: $4.5 mil

Ko has more than a dozen long-term sponsors, many of them based in golf-crazy South Korea, including LG Electronics, Korean Air, Jeju SamDaSoo mineral water and Rejuran skincare products.



#19(tie). $5.7 mil

In Gee Chun

SPORT: GOLF | NATIONALITY: SOUTH KOREA | AGE: 28 | ON-FIELD: $2.7 mil • OFF-FIELD: $3 mil

Chun has amassed a global portfolio of sponsors that includes Nike, Japanese equipment company Srixon, Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer and South Korean golfwear brand FairLiar.


#19(tie). $5.7 mil

Alex Morgan

SPORT: SOCCER | NATIONALITY: U.S. | AGE: 33 | ON-FIELD: $0.7 mil • OFF-FIELD: $5 mil

Morgan expanded her investment portfolio this year, adding stakes in eating-disorder-treatment startup Equip, recruiting platform Teamable, golf-tech firm TMRW Sports and retailer Soccer Post.


#19(tie). $5.7 mil

Megan Rapinoe

SPORT: SOCCER | NATIONALITY: U.S. | AGE: 37 | ON-FIELD: $0.7 mil • OFF-FIELD: $5 mil

Morgan’s teammate on the U.S. women’s national soccer team, Rapinoe this year joined compliance software firm Trusaic as “chief equality officer,” invested in Venus Williams’ Happy Viking nutrition brand and launched production company A Touch More with her fiancée, WNBA legend Sue Bird.


#22(tie). $5.4 mil

Brooke Henderson

SPORT: GOLF | NATIONALITY: CANADA | AGE: 25 | ON-FIELD: $2.4 mil • OFF-FIELD: $3 mil

Henderson won July’s Evian Championship, picking up her second major title six years after her 2016 breakthrough at the Women’s PGA Championship at age 18.



#22(tie). $5.4 mil

Nelly Korda

SPORT: GOLF | NATIONALITY: U.S. | AGE: 24 | ON-FIELD: $1.4 mil • OFF-FIELD: $4 mil

Korda, who entered 2022 as the world’s top-ranked golfer and leaves it No. 2, added endorsement deals with US LBM, which distributes specialty building materials, and sports nutrition brand LivPur this year alongside her sister Jessica, a fellow LPGA star.


#24(tie). $5.2 mil

Caroline Garcia

SPORT: TENNIS | NATIONALITY: FRANCE | AGE: 29 | ON-FIELD: $3.7 mil • OFF-FIELD: $1.5 mil

Garcia ended the year in style, winning the WTA Finals in November and jumping to a career-high No. 4 in the singles rankings.


#24(tie). $5.2 mil

Garbiñe Muguruza

SPORT: TENNIS | NATIONALITY: SPAIN | AGE: 29 | ON-FIELD: $0.7 mil • OFF-FIELD: $4.5 mil

Muguruza has endorsement deals with seven brands including Jaguar, Nivea and Rolex and this year acquired a significant stake in Casa del Sol, the tequila brand cofounded by actress Eva Longoria.


Methodology

The Forbes ranking of the highest-paid female athletes reflects earnings from the calendar year 2022. The on-field earnings figures include base salaries, bonuses, stipends and prize money and are rounded to the nearest $100,000. The off-field earnings estimates, which are rounded to the nearest $500,000, are determined through conversations with industry insiders and reflect annual cash from endorsements, licensing, appearances and memorabilia, as well as cash returns from any businesses in which the athlete has a significant interest. Forbes does not include investment income like interest payments or dividends but does account for payouts from equity stakes athletes have sold. Forbes does not deduct for taxes or agents’ fees.

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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettknight/2022/12/22/the-worlds-highest-paid-female-athletes-2022/