Haitian Rep’n Naomi Osaka Is Highest Paid Female Athlete

At age 22, tennis star Naomi Osaka has surpassed Serena Williams to become the highest paid female athlete.

Over the last 12 months, Osaka has earned $37.4 million. The Haitian American and Japanese reppin’ athlete landed several lucrative endorsement deals last year, as a result of her two back-to-back Grand Slams.

RELATED: Tennis Champ Naomi Osaka Visits Haiti

How Naomi Osaka became the highest-earning female athlete

According to Forbes, “Osaka earned $37.4 million the last 12 months from prize money and endorsements, $1.4 million more than Serena, setting an all-time earnings record for a female athlete in a single year; Maria Sharapova previously held the record with $29.7 million in 2015.”

RELATED: Haiti’s Naomi Osaka Rakes In New Ratings & Endorsements

Kurt Badenhausen continues in his Forbes article:

She turned pro in 2014, a month before her 16th birthday. She cracked the WTA’s top 40 in 2016 and won her first title in March 2018 at Indian Wells. In the 12 months that followed, she became the first Japanese player to win a Slam, and the first Asian tennis player ever to be ranked No. 1 in the world.

Osaka held dual citizenship growing up but made the wise choice to represent Japan ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, now postponed to 2021. The decision made her an even hotter commodity for Olympic sponsors, like Procter & Gamble, All Nippon Airways and Nissin, which signed endorsement deals with Osaka to use her around marketing for the Games. She is expected to be one of the faces of the Olympics, which had triggered unprecedented levels of excitement among the Japanese public before the coronavirus outbreak.

RELATED: 5 Reasons Why Naomi Osaka Is Sports Bae!

Tennis remains the only route for women to rank alongside the top-paid male sports stars. Sharapova, Li Na, Serena Williams and now Osaka are the only women to rank among the 100 top earners in sports since 2012. 

Presently, Osaka ranks No. 29 among the 100 highest-paid athletes while Williams is No. 33.

Read the full Forbes article HERE.