9 out of the top 10 women highest earning sportswomen in 2020 come from the sport of tennis. According to research by US magazine Forbes, The world’s nine highest-earning sportswomen over the past year are all tennis players. As revealed earlier in June, Japan’s
Naomi Osaka tops the list with earnings of $37.4m, ahead of fellow tennis player Serena Williams with $36m. Osaka’s biggest pay cheque comes from Nike which committed roughly $10 million annually to win her away from Adidas. Osaka now has 15 endorsement partners, including global brands like Nissan Motor, Shiseido and Yonex.
World number one Ashleigh Barty is third with income of $13.1m.
Highest Paid Females Athletes 2020 List : Alex Morgan only non-tennis player in the TOP 10 list
United States international footballer Alex Morgan is the only athlete from outside tennis in the top 10, earning $4.6m. Morgan, who gave birth to her first child in May, earned $4.2m of her income through endorsements during the span of Forbes analysis – between 1 June 2019 and 1 June 2020. Nike, Coca-Cola Volkswagen and AT&T are some of the prominent brands endorsed by Morgan.
Osaka and Williams have both broken the previous record for annual earnings, set at $29.7m in 2015 by Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova. Interestingly in a list of the world’s top 100 highest paid sports people list, published by Forbes in May, Osaka (29th) and Williams (33rd) were the only women.
| Top 10 highest-earning sportswomen (1st June 2019 to June 2020) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Name | Sport | Earnings |
| 1 | Naomi Osaka | Tennis | $37.4m (£26.3m) |
| 2 | Serena Williams | Tennis | $36m (£27.2m) |
| 3 | Ashleigh Barty | Tennis | $13.1m (£9.9m) |
| 4 | Simona Halep | Tennis | $10.9m (£8.2m) |
| 5 | Bianca Andreescu | Tennis | $8.9m (£6.7m) |
| 6 | Garbine Muguruza | Tennis | $6.6m (£5m) |
| 7 | Elina Svitolina | Tennis | $6.4m (£4.8m) |
| 8 | Sofia Kenin | Tennis | $5.8m (£4.4m) |
| 9 | Angelique Kerber | Tennis | $5.3m (£4m) |
| 10 | Alex Morgan | Football | $4.6m (£3.5m) |
