Coco Gauff has topped Sportico’s highest-paid female athlete list for a second consecutive year, with tennis dominating once again.
Gauff has pocketed $30.4million in 2024, becoming the third sportswoman to earn more than $30million in a single year after Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams.
The American also headlined the list last year, but has since gone onto increase her annual earnings by $8.5million.
From these $30.4million in earnings, Gauff has claimed $9.4 million in prize money after reaching the semi-finals of both the Australian Open and Roland Garros, winning her second WTA 1000 title in Beijing, and most recently lifting the WTA Finals title in Riyadh.
The WTA Finals victory in the Saudi capital produced the biggest single prize money win in women’s tennis history, as Gauff was rewarded with a $4.805 million cheque.
Gauff’s remaining $21million in earnings this year come from off-court endorsements, as the 20-year-old has deals with brands including New Balance, Head, Barilla Foods, UPS and Baker Tilly.
Sportico’s list is once again dominated by tennis players, with nine of the top 15 highest earning female sports stars from the WTA Tour.
This includes Iga Swiatek (3rd – $21.4million), Zheng Qinwen (4th – $20.6million), Aryna Sabalenka (5th – $17.7million), Naomi Osaka (6th – $15.9million) and Emma Raducanu (7th – $14.7million)
Inside the baseline…
Tennis has always been ahead in terms of paying female athletes more, represented by this list once again with six of the top 10 from the WTA Tour. It makes complete sense that Coco Gauff is at the top of this list once again, having won the WTA Finals, and she is always such a well spoken person, so it should be unsurprising that brands are offering her such lucrative deals. However, this does not mean that there is still not more improvements to be made, with there still a gender pay gap at tour-level events that the WTA Tour are currently working towards closing.
