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Forbes magazine has recently ranked world-renowned tennis athletes Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams as the highest-paid women athletes in 2021.
Osaka comes ranking in as having earned an estimated $60 million yearly; meanwhile, Williams brought in about $41.5 million, with under 10% of their total income having earned on the court and the rest from endorsements and other deals.
According to the magazine and the data has recorded between May 1 of last year and May 1 of this year.
Thea acquired divides earnings by on-the-field and off-the-field. On-the-field earnings include salaries, bonuses, and prize money earned, and off-the-field includes fees for appearances, licensing earnings, endorsement deals, and equity stakes sold.
More than 90% of Osaka’s earnings derive from her one-of-a-kind brand deals.
The young prodigy’s Nike partnership has been one of her most popular brand deals, bringing about $10 million a year from company sponsorships.
Last year, Osaka earned $37.4 million, and no other woman athlete has made more than Osaka for the past two years.
Williams is the champion of 23 Grand Slam singles titles, is one of the most popular female athletes globally, earned $41.5 million, with more than 95% of her earnings being off-the-field.
Williams also recently signed a TV deal with Amazon Studies this spring, including a docuseries about her life.
Coming in at third highest-paid woman athlete is Simone Biles, ranking at $6 million. Despite this, according to SportsPro, Biles is the most marketable athlete in the world, with Osaka coming second.
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Sportico reported that in 2020, 90 percent of the highest-paid woman athletes were tennis player but after revenue being dropped due tot the pandemic and canceled tennis events, only 30 percent of the athletes on the list this year are tennis players.
Soccer players Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe climbed up there onto the ranking, and Mikaela Shiffrin is the only ranking winter sport athlete.