The momentum behind women’s sports is finally beginning to increase players’ compensation. Caitlin Clark, a rookie sensation for the Indiana Fever who helped the WNBA to all-time highs in attendance and viewership, earned an estimated $8.1 million this season, which is equal to the women’s basketball record set by the now-retired Candace Parker last year.
At the CME Group Tour Championship in November, Thai golfer Jeeno Thitikul won the largest prize in women’s golf history, $4 million. Meanwhile, Nelly Korda, her rival on the LPGA Tour, finished with an estimated total income of $12.5 million, the highest amount earned by a golfer in the 17 years that Forbes has tracked the earnings of female athletes.
According to Forbes’ 2021 list, 20-year-old tennis player Coco Gauff has one of the best years ever for a female athlete with an estimated $34.4 million, second only to Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams, who reached their highest earnings of $57.3 million and $45.9 million, respectively.
Only four of the top 20 female athletes made more money on the field than off it overall, and the $68 million earned by the top 20 on the field accounted for 26% of their total earnings, with tennis players accounting for the great bulk of this amount. In contrast, the top 20 male athletes earned 72% of their total on the pitch, which is nearly the exact opposite of the women’s ratio.
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COCO GAUF $34.4 million Gauff was the co-flag bearer for Team USA at the opening ceremony of the July Olympics in Paris. Although her play slowed down during the summer, she returned to her peak in the autumn, winning the China Open and the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 20-year-old star recently added hair-care company Carol’s Daughter, Fanatics, and Naked Juice to her list of long-term partners, which now stands at 11 deep. That most recent victory came with a cheque for $4.8 million, but she earns much more money off the court. In celebration of her title run at Flushing Meadows the previous year, she also made an appearance on the cover of Wheaties boxes during the U.S. Open.
2. IGA SWIATEK $23.8 million
With an estimated $23.9 million, Świątek topped the 2023 female athletes ranking. This year, she finishes within $100,000 of that sum, and her strong sponsor portfolio now includes Lego and Lancôme. However, the 23-year-old also went through some upheaval; she split up with her coach and lost the top singles ranking after 50 weeks in a row. Most famously, three months prior, in November, she tested positive for a prohibited drug. But the International Tennis Integrity Agency merely suspended her for a month, ruling that the outcome was accidental due to melatonin contamination she was taking for sleep problems.
3. EILEEN GU $22.1M
Gu has significant endorsement relationships with Chinese companies including Anta sportswear, Bosideng coats, and Mengniu Dairy, as well as Western labels like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., and the recently added Porsche. She returned to a tie for the career freeskiing lead with her 16th World Cup victory this month, but some Chinese social media users have called Gu, who was born in San Francisco and competes for her mother’s home country of China, “unpatriotic” and “two-faced.” Gu responded in a post on the short-video app Douyin, saying, “I’ve competed internationally in 41 events over the last five years and have won 39 medals for China.” “What have you accomplished for the nation?”
4. QINWEN ZHENG $20.6 million
Zheng had earned the WTA Tour’s Most Improved Player and Newcomer of the Year titles in the previous two years, but in 2024 she improved, making it to the Australian Open final and taking home the gold in the singles competition at the Olympics in Paris. She is now a household name in her own country of China, where she has signed ambassadorial contracts with companies including Lancôme, Audi, the milk tea company Chagee, and the phone manufacturer Vivo. Comparisons to her countrywoman Li Na, who won two majors and placed in the top 10 of the female athletes’ earnings ranking from 2011 to 2014, have already been made in light of her rapid rise.
5. ARYNA SABALENKA $18.7 million
After winning the Australian Open and the U.S. Open, as well as two other tournaments, Sabalenka leapt ahead of her opponent Iga Świątek to take the top spot in tennis rankings and won the WTA Player of the Year Award. With $9.7 million in prize money, she also led the tour, surpassing Coco Gauff’s $9.4 million. Outside of the court, she signed endorsement contracts with açaí bowl chain Oakberry, Audemars Piguet watches, and Master & Dynamic headphones.
6. NAOMI OSAKA $12.9M
After missing all of 2023 to give birth to her first child, Osaka made her court appearances again on the first day of the new year. “My biggest issue is that I don’t feel like I’m in my body,” the four-time major champion wrote in a stirring Instagram post in August, indicating that it wasn’t easy. After battling injuries in recent years, she was able to participate in 19 events and improved her singles ranking from No. 833 during her sabbatical to No. 58. Along with being a co-founder of the production business Hana Kuma, which is working with the LPGA Tour to design advertisements centred around its athletes and is working on an anime series in which Osaka will serve as a voice actor, Osaka still has over a dozen sponsors under her belt.
7. EMMA RADUCANU $12.9M
After winning the 2021 U.S. Open at the age of 18, Raducanu signed a number of lucrative contracts with companies including British Airways, Dior, and HSBC. However, she has struggled with injuries, illnesses, and inconsistency in the years since her breakthrough. The highly acclaimed Yutaka Nakamura, who has worked with Maria Sharapova and Naomi Osaka in the past, is the new fitness coach for the world’s 57th-ranked player as she pursues her second career WTA tournament victory in 2025.
8. NELLY KORDA $12.5 million
Despite suffering a neck injury, Korda completed 2024 with seven championships, the most since 2011, and tied an LPGA Tour record this year with five consecutive event wins. She received the LPGA Player of the Year Award in addition to her No. 1 position, and her $4.4 million in LPGA prize money also broke the tour record, while Jeeno Thitikul’s $6.1 million this year beat her own. Outside of the course, Korda expanded the top sponsorship portfolio for women’s golf to include Tumi.
9. VENUS WILLIAMS $21.1 million
Williams, who has won seven Grand Slam singles titles during her illustrious career, participated in just two competitive events this year, both of which ended in first-round defeats. Although sponsorship agreements sometimes centre around a tennis player’s ranking, the 44-year-old is not your typical No. 977 player. In addition to earning six figures per engagement as a speaker, she maintains a demanding schedule as an entrepreneur and ambassador. Her most recent initiatives include Palazzo, an AI-powered interior design platform, and she served as the face of a unique Barbie doll made in honour of the toy’s 65th anniversary.
10. SIMONE BILES $11.2M
Following her 2021 Olympic withdrawal due to “the twisties,” Biles triumphantly returned to the Summer Games this year, taking home three gold medals and a silver in Paris. In honour of her now-uncontested reputation as the greatest gymnast of all time, she performed a victory lap with a series of displays known as the Gold Over America Tour, or GOAT. Her comeback was documented in the Netflix documentary Simone Biles Rising.
