Naomi Osaka leads the money list for female sports stars

Naomi Osaka is the highest-paid woman in the world of sport ahead of Serena Williams, who has transitioned away from playing but has an impressive and diverse investment portfolio.

Osaka's earnings absorbed a hit taken from the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX Investment.

However, lawsuits from irate investors targeting the celebrity promoters of the crashed crypto exchange could put a further dent in Osaka's pocket.

"In all, the world's 25 highest-paid female athletes hauled in an estimated $285 million in 2022 before taxes and agents' fees, with the top ten accounting for $194 million of that total-up 17% from the 2021 top ten's record $167 million. With $51.1 million in earnings, Osaka is No. 1 for the third straight year, followed by Williams with $41.3 million," said Forbes.

Women in sport stand out as role models for young girls who are seeing more and more examples of women breaking down boundaries in sports and business.

"I tell distributors and brands this all the time," says Elizabeth Lindsey, who works with Lavielle as Wasserman's president of brands and properties.

"Ignore this at your peril because the future is definitely female, your audiences are demanding it, and those who get involved, and get involved early, will reap the benefits of doing good and doing good business at the same time."

Cameron Wagner, who leads Elevate Sports Ventures' brand representation business as chief client officer: "I think everybody's seeing a tremendous amount of momentum with women's sports and women's sports sponsorships.

"I think everybody's seeing a tremendous amount of momentum with women's sports and women's sports sponsorships.

Serena Williams has used her time away from the court to engage in a few lucrative speaking engagements.

Williams sees a generation of young women rising up to take their place among the top earners in sports.

When No 4 Emma Raducanu won the 2021 U.S. Open as an 18-year-old qualifier, it unleashed a wave of sponsorships, including those from British Airways, Dior, Evian, HSBC, Porsche, Tiffany, and Vodafone, in addition to Nike. Although the young British star's international singles ranking, which peaked at No 10, and has since dropped to No 80, marketers continue to find her to be quite appealing. To begin with, a recent study by the analytics company SponsorUnited discovered that she had the greatest engagement of any female tennis player on her branded posts on social media.

World No 1 Iga Swiatek comes in at No 5 on this list having topped the WTA Tour prize money list.

In September of 2022, the 20-year-old secured a contract with IMG, arguably the number one tennis agency, to add to a list of endorsements that already included Asics and PZU, a Polish insurance provider.

Venus Williams (6), Coco Gauff (7) and (9)Jessica Pegula ensure that tennis dominates the top ten.