According to Forbes, Serena Williams has been one of the highest-paid tennis players in the world for many years. She was frequently ranked in the top ten alongside her sister, Venus Williams. Serena Williams announced her retirement last year, rendering her ineligible for this year’s ranking, according to Forbes.
Her sister has also dropped out of the top 10, making way for new black players like Coco Gauff, although Naomi Osaka remains on the list.
According to Forbes, the ten highest-paid players earned $196 million in the last year, a 38 percent decrease from last year’s total of $316 million. Novak Djokovic tops the list, with Gauff and Osaka the only Black players.
1. Coco Gauff
Coco Gauff is the world’s sixth highest-paid tennis player. Forbes reports that she earned $3.2 million on the court and $12 million off the court.
Gauff has etched her place in tennis history one bat swing at a time since making her Grand Slam debut at the age of 17. At the 2021 French Open, Gauff broke a 15-year record by becoming the youngest woman to reach a major slam quarterfinal.
Not only that, but she became the youngest American woman to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal since Venus Williams accomplished so at the 1997 U.S. Open when she was 17 years old. Gauff won her first WTA Tour singles title at the 2019 Linz Open, becoming the Tour’s youngest singles champion since 2004. She gained notoriety after beating Williams in the first round of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.
She just won the DC Open by defeating Greek World No.9 Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-3 in the women’s final. Her fourth singles championship is her first at a WTA-500 event. It is also her first singles victory in the United States. Furthermore, she is now the tournament’s youngest female champion.
Gauff was born on March 13, 2004, and thus had not yet entered the world when Williams, her idol, reached four of her nine Wimbledon finals. However, the African-American tennis prodigy progressed up the ranks, winning multiple junior titles before reaching Wimbledon.
Her performance on and off the tennis court has made her one of the most marketable sports stars of her generation, earning millions of dollars. According to Forbes, she has formed relationships with accounting firm Baker Tilly, Bose, and UPS this year.
2. Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka was placed ninth on the list of the world’s highest-paid tennis players. According to Forbes, she earned $0.1 million on the court and $12 million off it.
Osaka is a Haitian-Japanese tennis player who was born in Chuo-ku, Osaka, Japan in October 1997 to a Haitian father and a Japanese mother. She has lived in the United States since the age of three and holds dual Japanese and American citizenship. She “grew up in a Haitian household in New York,” with her grandmother. Despite her Haitian origin, Osaka plays tennis under the Japanese flag despite her inability to speak the language fluently.
She was the first Japanese person of color to reach No. 1 in the rankings and the first to win a Grand Slam championship. Her success on the court has resulted not only in grand slam titles, but also in a large collection of riches by the tennis star. She became Forbes’ highest-paid athlete in history in 2020.
However, she has not played a competitive match since September 2022, due to injury and subsequent pregnancy. Aside from tennis, Osaka has made many investments and has sponsorship relationships. She is also a part-owner of the North Carolina Courage, a National Women’s Soccer League team. She has also invested in KINL, a skincare line designed specifically for people of color. Dr. Naana Boakye, a Ghanaian-born dermatologist, collaborated with her to develop the product. The tennis player also collaborates with Victoria’s Secret and Bobbie infant formula.