Money in sports is a weird, lopsided beast. For decades, if you weren't hitting a yellow fuzzy ball across a net, your chances of making "generational wealth" as a female athlete were basically zero. But honestly, the landscape is shifting so fast right now it’ll give you whiplash. We’re finally seeing a world where a WNBA rookie or an Olympic skier can rival the bank accounts of Grand Slam champions.
When people talk about the highest-earning women athletes of all time, they usually think of Serena Williams or Maria Sharapova. And they should. Those two essentially wrote the blueprint for how to turn a trophy into a global business empire. Serena alone hauled in over $94 million in prize money during her career. If you add her endorsements? You’re looking at a total north of $450 million. It’s a staggering number that stood untouchable for years.
The Tennis Monopoly on the Top Spot
For almost twenty years, the Forbes list of the world's highest-paid female athletes looked like a WTA roster. It was predictable. Tennis had the infrastructure and, more importantly, the "equal pay" narrative at Grand Slams that other sports lacked.
Maria Sharapova was the queen of this for a long time. Even when she wasn't winning every tournament, she was the face of Nike, Porsche, and Tag Heuer. Between 2005 and 2015, she was the highest-paid female athlete in the world every single year. She understood something most didn't back then: the "off-court" money is where the real power lies. She famously turned her name into a candy brand, Sugarpova, proving that athletes could be founders, not just billboards.
Then came Naomi Osaka. In 2021, she shattered records by earning $57.3 million in a single year. To put that in perspective, that was more than what many top-tier NBA players were making at the time. Most of that—about $55 million—came from sponsors like Louis Vuitton and Mastercard.
🔗 Read more: NFL Week 5 2025 Point Spreads: What Most People Get Wrong
- Serena Williams: ~$94.8M (Prize money only)
- Venus Williams: ~$42.9M (Prize money only)
- Iga Swiatek: ~$43M (Rapidly climbing the ranks)
- Naomi Osaka: ~$50M+ single-year earnings record
The 2025 Shift: Coco Gauff and the New Guard
Fast forward to right now. Coco Gauff has taken the mantle and she's running with it. In late 2025, reports confirmed she topped the earnings list for the third year in a row, bringing in around $33 million. What's interesting about Coco isn't just the amount, but the age. She’s doing this at 21. She’s built a portfolio that includes Mercedes-Benz and Rolex while launching her own management company, Coco Gauff Enterprises.
She isn't just a player; she's a CEO.
Beyond the Baseline: The Rise of "Nontraditional" Earners
It used to be that if you didn't play tennis, you were fighting for scraps. Not anymore. Look at Eileen Gu. The freestyle skier is a literal phenomenon in China. In 2025, she reportedly earned over $23 million. Almost all of that is from endorsements. She’s the bridge between East and West, representing everything from Louis Vuitton to Chinese tech giants.
Then there’s the "Caitlin Clark Effect."
💡 You might also like: Bethany Hamilton and the Shark: What Really Happened That Morning
If you told someone five years ago that a WNBA player would be one of the highest-earning women athletes of all time in terms of annual revenue, they would have laughed. But in 2025, Clark’s total earnings hit an estimated $16.1 million.
The breakdown is wild. Her WNBA salary was only about $114,000. That means 99.3% of her income came from sponsors like Nike, Gatorade, and State Farm. She’s proving that team sports in the U.S. can finally generate the kind of individual star power that used to be reserved for individual sports like tennis or golf.
The Breakdown of Modern Earnings
It’s not just about the win-loss record. It’s about "marketability," a word that used to be a euphemism but now just means "audience."
- Tennis: Still the leader. Eight of the top ten earners in 2025 were still tennis players, including Aryna Sabalenka ($30M) and Iga Swiatek ($25.1M).
- Golf: Nelly Korda is raking it in. She set an LPGA record with over $4.4 million in prize money recently, totaling $13 million with her Nike and TaylorMade deals.
- WNBA: Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu ($10.5M), and Angel Reese ($9.4M) are completely redefining the floor for women's basketball.
- Action Sports/Olympics: Eileen Gu remains the outlier, proving that one gold medal and a modeling contract can be worth more than a decade of pro league play.
Why the Numbers are Exploding
Kinda feels like we’re in a bubble, right? But the data says otherwise. Investment is pouring into women's sports because the "valuation" was artificially low for too long. Brands are realizing that female athletes often have higher engagement rates on social media than their male counterparts.
📖 Related: Simona Halep and the Reality of Tennis Player Breast Reduction
Take someone like Ilona Maher. The rugby star earned $8.1 million in 2025. Rugby is not a "money sport" in the U.S., but her personality made her a brand magnet.
There are limits, though. While Gauff is making $33 million, the top male athletes are still clearing $100 million or $200 million (especially with the Saudi money in golf and soccer). No woman cracked the overall top 50 highest-paid athletes list last year because the "cutoff" has jumped to over $53 million. We're getting closer, but the ceiling is still there.
Practical Insights for Fans and Investors
If you're looking at the future of the highest-earning women athletes of all time, keep your eyes on these three things:
- Signature Lines: Caitlin Clark’s Nike shoe is launching in 2026. Signature gear is the "holy grail" of athlete wealth.
- Ownership: Athletes like Gauff starting their own management firms or Biles with her "Gold Over America" tour are keeping a larger slice of the pie.
- Media Rights: As WNBA and NWSL TV deals continue to grow, the "base salary" will eventually rise to a point where players aren't 99% dependent on sponsors.
The era of the "Tennis-only" rich list is dead. We are watching the diversification of women's sports wealth in real-time. Whether it's a gymnast, a hooper, or a skier, the path to $100 million is finally being paved.
To stay ahead of these trends, start following the business side of sports through outlets like Sportico or the Forbes SportsMoney section. If you're an investor or just a fan, watching how these athletes leverage their social media presence into equity deals—rather than just one-off ads—is the real "secret sauce" to seeing who will be the next $100 million woman.