Iga Świątek, Eileen Gu and Coco Gauff are the top earners for the past 12 months as tennis players continue to dominate the annual pay ranking. With Serena Williams retired and Naomi Osaka sidelined for the year as she recovered from injuries and then childbirth, the list of the world’s highest-paid female athletes has a new No. 1: 22-year-old Polish tennis star Iga Świątek, who made an estimated $23.9 million in 2023 (before taxes and agents’ fees). Since Forbes introduced the ranking in 2008, Maria Sharapova is the only other woman to have claimed the crown, reigning for eight straight years until Williams took over in 2016.
Świątek’s monster year included the women’s singles title at the French Open, and four new endorsement deals, but it’s also no coincidence that she—like Osaka, Williams and Sharapova before her—plays tennis. Twelve of the world’s 20 highest-paid female athletes, and nine of the top 10, come from the sport, which offers sizable prize money and ample marketing opportunities for female athletes.
Golf and soccer each have two athletes represented in this year’s top 20, with badminton, basketball, gymnastics and freestyle skiing rounding out the list with one athlete apiece.
Combined, the 20 top-earning women made an estimated $226 million in 2023. That is a 13% drop from 2022’s $258 million, but the decline can be attributed almost entirely to the loss of Williams (who hauled in $41.3 million on last year’s list) and Osaka’s tumble to $15 million (from $51.1 million in 2022) amid her long layoff.
Forbes SportsMoney Reporter Justin Birnbaum, joins 'Forbes Talks' to list the highest paid female athletes.
Świątek’s monster year included the women’s singles title at the French Open, and four new endorsement deals, but it’s also no coincidence that she—like Osaka, Williams and Sharapova before her—plays tennis. Twelve of the world’s 20 highest-paid female athletes, and nine of the top 10, come from the sport, which offers sizable prize money and ample marketing opportunities for female athletes.
Golf and soccer each have two athletes represented in this year’s top 20, with badminton, basketball, gymnastics and freestyle skiing rounding out the list with one athlete apiece.
Combined, the 20 top-earning women made an estimated $226 million in 2023. That is a 13% drop from 2022’s $258 million, but the decline can be attributed almost entirely to the loss of Williams (who hauled in $41.3 million on last year’s list) and Osaka’s tumble to $15 million (from $51.1 million in 2022) amid her long layoff.
Forbes SportsMoney Reporter Justin Birnbaum, joins 'Forbes Talks' to list the highest paid female athletes.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Hi everybody, I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes Breaking News.
00:06 Joining me now is my colleague, sports money reporter Justin Birnbaum.
00:10 Justin, thanks for coming on in.
00:11 Thanks for having me Brittany.
00:12 I want to extend a big congratulations.
00:15 Forbes has just released its annual list of the highest paid female athletes and there's
00:20 a newcomer at the number one spot.
00:22 The anticipation is killing us all in the studio, so who is it?
00:26 This year's top spot belongs to Polish tennis sensation Iga Szwantek who earned an estimated
00:31 $23.9 million in total earnings before taxes and agents fees in 2023.
00:37 She had a big year.
00:38 She finished the rankings number one.
00:41 She also won the French Open.
00:43 But what's really interesting about her is that she's new blood at the top of this list.
00:48 Other than her, there's only been three other women who have topped this list since we started
00:53 doing it in 2008 and that's Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams, and Maria Sharapova.
00:58 So a new one on top and possibly a long reign because she's only 22 years old.
01:03 Szwantek, Sharapova, Williams, Osaka.
01:07 I'm really detecting a theme here and that's that these are all tennis players.
01:11 So why is that the case?
01:12 Yeah, so you are correct.
01:14 That is a theme here.
01:15 Twelve of the top 20 are tennis players, nine of the top 10.
01:20 And there's a simple explanation here.
01:23 The sport offers ample prize money and marketing opportunities for female tennis players as
01:27 opposed to kind of the landscape in other women's sports.
01:29 So that naturally, you know, for those who are successful and also can market themselves
01:33 off the court, that gives them a boost and puts someone like Szwantek in position to
01:37 lead this list.
01:38 So, Justin, aside from tennis, what other sports landed athletes on the list?
01:43 So there are six other sports represented.
01:46 Golf and soccer each have two athletes and then badminton, basketball, gymnastics and
01:52 freestyle skiing all each have an athlete on the list.
01:56 Skiing.
01:57 That's a really interesting one.
01:58 Is that an anomaly just because it's not even an Olympic year?
02:02 So I'm glad you asked.
02:03 So that's referring to Eileen Gu, who claimed the second spot on this list.
02:07 She earned twenty two point one million dollars in estimated total earnings for 2023 for taxes
02:12 and agents fees.
02:13 That basically almost all comes from her marketing efforts.
02:17 She she's born in San Francisco, but she represents China internationally.
02:23 It's made her a huge hit in the Chinese market, but also she's just a global sensation.
02:27 She also models.
02:29 She has deals all across the globe with Louis Vuitton, Victoria's Secret, also back in China
02:34 with one, for example, a sportswear maker, ANTA.
02:37 So she's a big hit and she basically is the rare exception of an Olympic athlete that
02:43 doesn't see their earnings decline in a non-Olympic year.
02:46 Obviously after getting a gold medal at Beijing in twenty twenty two, the next will be twenty
02:50 twenty six.
02:51 So obviously we're in between that.
02:53 But yeah, she has found a way to be kind of proofed of that in between time.
02:58 I want you to round off this list for us.
03:00 Aside from some of the top tennis players, aside from Eileen Gu, who are some other athletes
03:05 that qualified for the list?
03:06 Yeah.
03:07 So there's a few I'll mention.
03:08 There's Simone Biles, who, you know, is arguably the greatest gymnast ever.
03:14 She has returned the competition.
03:15 She has her sights on Paris twenty twenty four.
03:17 She still seems incredible, fantastic and at the top of her game.
03:21 So she's someone who's who, you know, the marketing money has always followed her.
03:26 And, you know, as long as she's good and able to compete, it seems that like that will continue.
03:30 There's also Megan Rapinoe, who is this is the last time she'll be on this list, obviously
03:35 since she retired.
03:36 But she, you know, was one of the faces of the U.S. women's national team in soccer.
03:41 And, you know, obviously they didn't succeed in doing what they wanted to do at the World
03:44 Cup this past year.
03:45 But Rapinoe has always been a star and remains, you know, a big face.
03:49 But obviously she's transitioning into a different part of her career.
03:52 There's PV Sindhu, who many people in the American audience might not know.
03:56 She plays badminton and she's over in India.
03:59 She's extremely, extremely marketable and successful, although most of it is overseas.
04:04 So, you know, that kind of flies under the radar here.
04:07 And then another one I'll name is Nelly Korda, who is an LPGA golfer and one of the stars
04:11 of the sport.
04:12 And she recently swapped out a bunch of her deals in favor of more lucrative ones.
04:16 And that's been able to help improve the way she earns, you know, off the golf course.
04:20 Oh, and another point I want to mention is that Cocoa Golf is someone who had a breakthrough
04:26 this year.
04:27 She won the U.S. Open and she won $3 million for that.
04:30 But she's someone who is already successful on the marketing side.
04:32 And the U.S. Open win could unlock a marketing avalanche.
04:35 So she's someone definitely to watch going forward.
04:38 Forbes has been doing this list now for over a decade.
04:41 So I always love to contrast from years past.
04:44 So I'm curious, how does the 2023 list compare to the 2022 one?
04:49 So the top 20 earners in 2023 earned a combined an estimated $226 million before taxes and
04:56 agents fees, obviously.
04:57 That's a 13 percent decline from last year, where the figure was a total of $258 million.
05:03 That doesn't sound good.
05:04 Well, it's not all it seems.
05:06 So you have to consider that this accounts for the fact that Serena Williams transitioned
05:10 into retirement.
05:11 And she was always an extremely high earner, an outlier for this list.
05:15 And now her not being on this list anymore, you know, obviously changes the scope of that.
05:20 Also, Naomi Osaka traditionally has been a really, really strong earner and an outlier,
05:24 just like Williams.
05:25 But she's had a long layoff.
05:26 You know, she's dealt with injuries.
05:27 She's been away from competitive play.
05:28 She just gave birth, not just, but a few months ago gave birth to a daughter.
05:32 So she's preparing to return to competitive play.
05:34 And we could see that tick back up potentially.
05:36 But yeah, with those two not contributing, obviously, you know, there's an expected kind
05:40 of decrease in the number there.
05:42 You hinted at this just now, but in your story, too, you said there's optimism, even though
05:47 the overall earnings of the top 20 are down.
05:49 So is it safe to say it's a good time to be a top paid female athlete?
05:53 And why is that?
05:54 Well, there's two sides to this.
05:56 For one, it's been a pretty big year for women's sports.
05:59 The National Women's Soccer League and international soccer on the women's side has set attendance
06:04 records.
06:05 The WNBA announced another expansion team.
06:07 The LPGA Tour is raising its prize money fund over $100 million.
06:11 I think $118 million was the exact number it's going to, but I'll have to double check
06:14 that for you.
06:16 And the University of Nebraska held an outdoor women's volleyball game and drew over 90,000
06:20 fans to that.
06:21 So those are incredible, incredible, you know, kind of milestones for a banner year in women's
06:27 sports.
06:28 On the other side of this, when you talk about our list specifically, the median earning
06:32 mark went up to $8.5 million this year, up from $7.3 million a year before.
06:38 And 16 of the 20 members of this list are under 30, which suggests that there could
06:41 be more earnings potential for them on the horizon.
06:44 Also, eight crossed the $10 million mark, which matches last year record and is double
06:50 the mark from 2021.
06:51 So you know, when you look at it as a whole, you know, women's sports are growing in popularity
06:57 and kind of chasing new opportunities.
06:59 And also on our list, it's being reflected in the earnings of these athletes.
07:04 That's really exciting.
07:05 Something you did note, that it's a banner year for women's sports.
07:08 So I'm excited for what's to come as we sit here on the precipice of 2024.
07:13 You're the expert here.
07:14 What should we look out for next?
07:16 So obviously, you know, a huge way that these sports and leagues drive revenue has to do
07:22 with broadcast rights.
07:23 And several of the women's leagues are in position where they're going to be able to
07:26 renegotiate these and get better rates.
07:30 Obviously, you know, it's an opportune time to do that, because if you go back a few years
07:34 ago, the momentum wasn't quite there.
07:35 But now it is.
07:37 And this will put a lot of them in a position to earn, you know, more on the league level
07:40 or the sport level than they ever have before.
07:42 With that being said, you know, brands are starting to invest more and more in female
07:47 athletes.
07:48 They see the business case.
07:49 They see the consumers they can reach.
07:50 They see the opportunities and kind of the positives of having these athletes represent
07:55 their brands.
07:56 So, you know, with more money flowing into the sports as a whole and more opportunities
08:00 flowing to the athletes, it's just a trend that I think we're going to see keep going
08:04 up and up and up.
08:05 Well, Justin Birnbaum, I appreciate the reporting.
08:07 Thanks for coming in.
08:08 Thanks for having me, Brittany.
08:09 Thanks for having me.
08:10 Thanks for having me.
08:10 [END]