11 tennis stars on 2024 highest-paid female athletes list: Coco Gauff tops Iga Swiatek with Naomi Osaka, Emma Raducanu tied
The latest Forbes list for the World’s Highest-Paid Female Athletes has been released and it is once again dominated by tennis players from the WTA Tour.
Coco Gauff was the big winner in 2024 as the American topped the list for the first time in her career, replacing five-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek at No 1.
Last year Swiatek finished as the year-end No 1 and her estimated earnings were $23.9m as she beat freestyle skier Eileen Gu ($22.1m) and Gauff ($21.7m) to the honour.
But Gauff has shattered Swiatek’s $23.9m as the American earned a whopping $34.4m during the calendar year with the bulk of that coming from off-field sponsorships.
The 20-year-old, who won three titles this season, was second on the WTA’s prize earners list for this season as she made $9,353,847, which features a record $4.8 million from her WTA Finals trophy run.
But it’s the off-field earnings where she made most of her money as the $25m have come from deals with the likes of New Balance, Head, Barilla, Carol’s Daughter, Fanatics and Naked Juice.
The Gauff total is the third-highest figure with Naomi Osaka ($57.3m) and Serena Williams ($45.9m) ahead of her.
According to Forbes, off-field earnings “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”.
Taxes, agents’ fees or income from interest payments or dividends are not included.
Swiatek drops to No 2 as she earned slightly less than her 2023 season as she sits on $23.8m with $8.8m coming from prize money and $15m from endorsements.
Freestyle skier Gu is the only non-tennis player in the top five as she is third with $22.1m, ahead of Chinese star Zheng Qinwen and world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
The Forbes list is slightly different from the Sportico one that was released a few weeks ago, although Gauff also topped that one with Gu second and Swiatek third.
