Serena Williams: ‘I would have had 30’ Slams if I didn’t have to play Venus (and she would've had at least 15)

For the third year running, Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams have gone 1-2 in the annual release of Forbes’ World's Highest-Paid Female Athletes list. And tennis remained the strongest represented sport in boasting seven of the Top 10 earners—up from five a year ago—and more impressively, all but one of the Top 7.

Osaka, who has now occupied the No. 1 spot three consecutive years after finishing second to Serena in 2019, brought in $51.1 million. Only 2.15% of that was earned via prize money in a season where Osaka went 14-9 and went title-less over 11 tournament appearances. Her retained sponsors include Nike, Yonex, Nissin, Citizen and MasterCard. Among her 2022 business interests, Osaka launched Evolve agency alongside agent Stuart Diguid, released a children's book, “The Way Champs Play” and invested in a Major League Pickeball team.

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Osaka and Serena both posted more than double the third-highest earner, respectively.

Likewise, Serena Williams earned just about all of her money—99.27%—without a racquet in hand. In a year that saw the 23-time major champion “evolve” away from tennis, Serena was more than active in headlining several speaking engagements and working with her firm, Serena Ventures.

Despite dropping to No. 80 in the WTA rankings, Emma Raducanu came in at No. 4 on the list behind two-time 2022 Olympic gold medalist Eileen Gu with $18.7 million. The lack of any 2021 US Open title follow-up success hardly impacted her popularity, as Forbes referenced findings from data firm SportUnited that found Raducanu’s “branded posts on social media had the highest average engagement of any female tennis player.”

Iga Swiatek rounded out the Top 5 by showcasing the value of piling up match victories. Of her $14.9 million, just under $10 million came courtesy of her on-court performances that saw the Pole capture two major titles and four WTA 1000 crowns.

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Tennis Players In The Top 25:

1 - Naomi Osaka: $51.1 million

2 - Serena Williams: $41.3 million

4 - Emma Raducanu, Tennis: $18.7 million

5 - Iga Swiatek, Tennis: $14.9 million

6 - Venus Williams: $12.1 million

7 - Coco Gauff: $11.1 million

9 - Jessica Pegula: $7.6 million

13 - Leylah Fernandez: $7 million

15 - Ons Jabeur: $6.5 million

16 - Paula Badosa: $6.2 million

24T - Caroline Garcia: $5.2 million

24T - Garbiñe Muguruza: $5.2 million