Tennis covers the highest paid athletes of 2022

Tennis is the sport that concentrates the best salaries for women’s sports. According to Forbes’ ranking of the 25 highest-paid athletes in the world in 2022, seven place in the Top 10. All of the athletes earned an estimated $285 million, before taxes and agent fees.

The figures take into account gains on and off the field. Naomi Osaka ranks first for the third year in a row, with revenue reaching $51.1 million in 2022. Recently retired Serena Williams ranked second (41.3 million) and Olympic skier Eileen Gu (20.1 million) ranked third. In gymnastics, star Simone Biles came in eighth with $10 million, while for the WNBA, Candace Parker earned $7.2 million and ranked 11th.

Osaka and Serena are the only two women to make the Top 50 of Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid athletes (combining both men and women) and only six athletes earned more than Osaka in off-court endorsements this year.

This 2022 is characterized by the growth of athletes’ earnings. Eight of them, with the highest income this year, earned more than 10 million, twice as much as in 2021. It is the first time that more than seven women have crossed that threshold in a single year since the magazine presented the ranking in 2008. Swiatek , Raducanu and Gauff crossed that milestone for the first time this year.

In soccer, OL Reign’s Megan Rapinoe tied for 19th with USWNT teammate Alex Morgan, who plays for the NWSL’s San Diego Wave, and golf star In Gee Chun earns $5.7 million.

There is still a discrepancy between gains on and off the field in women’s sports. For example, just $1.1 million of Osaka’s $51.1 million came from on-court earnings, though he suffered injuries in 2022 that affected his tournament appearances. Parker’s salary accounts for just over 2% of his total return, while Morgan and Rapinoe earn $700,000 of their $5.7 million on the field.

But world No. 1 tennis player Iga Swiatek, who won the French and US Opens in 2022, earned $9.9 million of her $14.9 million in prize money.

deportes@eleconomista.mx