Serena Williams tops Forbes highest-earning female athletes list for third successive year

Sport360 staff 21:02 22/08/2018
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  • Serena Williams made just $62,000 of her $18.1m earnings in the last 12 months from playing tennis.

    Serena Williams‘ total earnings ensure she tops the Forbes highest-earning female athletes list for the third successive year, with eight tennis players inside the top 10.

    The 23-time Grand Slam champion predictably tops the list, earning $18.1m (£14m) last year. She remains top of the pile despite earning just $62,000 (£48,050) from prize money during the past year – owing largely to her 14-month break to have a baby – but she still made $18m (£13.95m) through endorsements.

    Badminton’s PV Sindhu and race car driver Danica Patrick are the only non-tennis players inside the top 10.

    Caroline Wozniacki is second on the list having won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open earlier this year – a victory that secured her $3.1m in prize money to push her total earnings to $13m.

    Completing the top five are Sloane Stephens, Garbine Muguruza and Maria Sharapova.

    Russian Sharapova was the top-earning female athlete for 11 consecutive years but has seen her earnings drop after her 15-month doping ban.

    Williams’ total earnings ensure she tops the list for the third successive year, making twice as much away from the tennis court as any other female athlete.

    Caroline Wozniacki is second on the list.

    Caroline Wozniacki is second on the list.

    Indian Olympic and world silver medallist Sindhu and Patrick – the most successful female race car driver – are seventh and ninth on the list respectively.

    The top 10 highest earning female athletes earned $105m in total from June 2017 to June 2018. That figure is down 4 per cent from last year and 28 per cent from five years ago.

    In June, the Forbes rankings of the world’s top 100 highest earning athletes did not feature a woman after Williams dropped out of the chart.

    US boxer Floyd Mayweather topped the list followed by football’s Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

    The top 10 and their total earnings:

    1 Serena Williams (tennis) – $18.1m (£14m)

    2 Caroline Wozniacki (tennis) – $13m (£10.1m)

    3 Sloane Stephens (tennis) – $11.2m (£8.7m)

    4 Garbine Muguruza (tennis) – $11m (£8.5m)

    5 Maria Sharapova (tennis) – $10.5m (£8.1m)

    6 Venus Williams (tennis) – $10.2m (£7.9m)

    7 PV Sindhu (badminton) – $8.5m (£6.6m)

    8 Simona Halep (tennis) – $7.7m (£6m)

    9 Danica Patrick (race car driving) – $7.5m (£5.8m)

    10 Angelique Kerber (tennis) – $7m (£5.4m)

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