Naomi Osaka, a two-time grand slam champion, and World no. 1, is now the top-earning female athlete in the world. The 22-year-old has beaten her legendary rival, Serena Williams, to become the highest-paid female athlete in the world.
According to forbes.com, Osaka earned $37.4 million from prize money in the last 12 months, which is $1.4 million than Serena. With this, she broke the record of the highest-paid female athlete, Maria Sharapova previously held the record with $29.7 million in 2015.
In the 100 highest-paid athletes list, Osaka ranked 29th in the World, while Williams is ranked 33. Notably, it is the first time since 2016 that two female athletes have made it under the top 100 list.
She came into limelight in the 2018 US Open final, after defeating Serena Williams in a highly controversial match. Doing so, she scripted history by becoming the first-ever athlete in tennis to rank World no. 1 from Asia. She is currently a part of the IMG group and has 15 sponsorship deals which include top brands like Nike, Nissan Motors, and Yonex. Female tennis stars have always made it to the Forbes women’s list since 1990 from Williams to Sharapova in 2004.
Osaka is born to a Japanese mother and a Haitian American father. At the age of sixteen, she defeated US Open Champion, Samantha Stosur, in her WTA debut. She is expected to be one of the prominent faces at the Tokyo Olympics which has triggered a lot of excitement from the population of Japan. Tennis is the only global sport that follows equality in the paychecks of male and female tennis players. This is due to similar fan base tuning in to watch matches.
Naomi is one of the most marketable athletes in the World and brands are lining up to get into Naomi Osaka business.
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