Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka is the highest-earning sportswoman in the world. With an estimated income of $ 51.1 million (about 48 million euros), she tops the ranking of the American business magazine Forbes. She has held that position for the past two years. It’s quite a surprise since Osaka hasn’t won a single Grand Slam tournament this year. WTA number 1 and winner of two Grand Slam tournaments in 2022, Iga Swiatek, isn’t anywhere near Osaka when it comes to earnings in 2022.

Second place Serena Williams

In second place is another tennis star with Serena Williams. The 41-year-old American came to 41.3 million dollars (38.1 million euros) in 2022. The third place is for the Chinese skier Eileen Gu. She raised 20.1 million dollars (18.9 million euros) this year. At the beginning of this year, Gu became a two-time Olympic champion in freestyle skiing (big air and half pipe) at the Winter Games in Beijing. British tennis star Emma Raducanu is in fourth place: she earned 18.7 million dollars (17.6 million euros) in 2022. Iga Swiatek, the Polish world number one in tennis, is fifth with 14.9 million dollars (14 million euros). Ten tennis players are in the top 15 of the ranking.

Sponsoring important for Osaka

Forbes includes wages, premiums and bonuses in the sports field, as well as an estimate of advertising and marketing revenue. At Osaka, more than $50 million of her income comes from sponsorship. This shows how important sponsoring is for Osaka. She has become such a big brand, she doesn’t need to perform on the court to make a very good income. If we compare what Osaka earned to Lionel Messi, with 130 million the highest earning athlete according to Forbes, Osaka still has some ground to win. She won’t need to use any free bets if and when she wants to make some bets. But it very unlikely she is involved in any of this, since sporters usually don’t want to to a risk with betting.