These are the 10 highest paid athletes in the world, with Naomi Osaka at the top

The Japanese tennis player, Naomi Osaka, currently in the fourteenth position of the WTA ranking, is the female athlete with the highest income in the world. Along with her, Serena and Venus Williams, Simone Biles, Garbiñe Muguruza, Jin Young Ko, PV Sindhu, Ashleigh Barty, Nelly Korda and Candace Parker complete the list.

Together, these ten world figures from tennis, gymnastics, golf, badminton and basketball pocketed $167 million in 2021, an increase of 23% over 2020 levels, according to the specialized business and finance publication , Forbes.

Osaka, who repeats the award for the second consecutive year, is the queen of women’s sports with earnings of 57.3 million dollars, of which only 2 million came for her merits on the track. The rest comes from advertising revenue, such as its deals with Nike, Louis Vitton, Sweetgreen, Tag Heuer and Autograph, among others. The Japanese can boast of having won more than all male athletes, except Roger Federer.

In second position is Serena Williams, who pocketed 45.9 million dollars thanks to her commercial agreements with Nike NKE, Gatorade and AT&T T. Also thanks to her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, where she has invested in more than 40 companies. All this has earned him 45 million dollars, and only 900,000 for his income on the track.

For its part, his sister Venus, 41 years old, has taken 11.3 million dollars. Of them, 11 come from sponsorships and commercial agreements (EleVen, Wilson, Electronic Arts, Kraft, Ralph Lauren) and $300,000 for tennis. In 2021 he only played nine official tournaments.

In fourth place is Simon Biles, with a total income of 10.1 million dollars. Only 100,000 dollars come from her profession, and gymnastics is not a sport that generates good sums of money. Instead, the remaining 10 million come through their agreements with Autograph, Athleta, Visa, United Airlines UAL, Uber or Facebook.

The tennis player Garbiñe Muguruza is in fifth position and is the Spanish athlete who has obtained the most income in 2021. Of the 8.8 million dollars generated, 2.8 belong to her income from tennis. The rest, 6 million dollars, come from his sponsorships with Adidas, Babolat, Jaguar and Nivea.

The rest of the list is completed by golfer Jin Young Ko (7.5 million dollars), badminton player PV Sindhu (7.2), tennis player Ashleigh Barty (6.9), golfer Nelly Korda (5, 9) and basketball player Candace Parker (5.7).

Interestingly, only Ashleigh Barty has been able to make more money through her sport than from endorsements. The Australian tennis player obtained 3.9 million dollars on the track, for the 3 million sponsorships.