Coco Gauff tops 2023’s list of highest paid female athletes

19-year-old American tennis superstar Coco Gauff tops the 2023 list of highest-paid female athletes. Gauff’s breakout year included a maiden Grand Slam victory at the 2023 US Open. She finished the year as World No. 3, her highest career WTA ranking to date.

Athletes’ earnings are calculated from prize winnings and endorsements. Gauff earned $22.7 million, $6.7 million in prize money, and $16 million in endorsements, edging out World No. 1 Iga Swiatek with $21.9 million.

Gauff is the face of New Balance sportswear and sneakers and is also sponsored by Barilla, UPS, and Rolex among others. Gauff doubled her 2022 earnings. She was ranked seventh last year with $11.1 million. Winning the US Open and earning endorsement bonuses for winning a Grand Slam are the reasons she jumped to the top in 2023.

Coco Gauff tops the list but who else is on it?

Seven WTA tennis players are in the Top 10, a fact that can be attributed to women’s tennis legend Billie Jean King and her tireless pursuit of equal pay for female athletes of all sports including her own.  Gauff’s doubles partner, Jessica Pegula finished eighth with $9 million.  Two players with extremely limited court time in 2023 finished fourth and fifth.

2021 US Open Champion Emma Radacanu, plagued with injuries requiring multiple surgeries, did not play since April but managed to finish fourth on the list with $16.2 million.

Four-time Grand Slam Champion Naomi Osaka, who was on maternity leave for the entire year, finished fifth with $15 million. 100 percent of her earnings came from endorsements.

Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina also made it, ranked sixth and seventh, respectively.  This is the first year in recent memory that neither Venus nor Serena Williams made the list.

The three non-tennis players on the list are skier Eileen Gu ranked third at $20 million, gymnast Simone Biles ranked ninth at $8.5 million and golfer Nelly Korda ranked tenth at $7.9 million.