Naomi Osaka, Emma Raducanu on women’s athlete rich list despite inactivity

The highest earning female athletes in world sport in 2023 have been revealed with two names in particular raising eyebrows.

It's been a lucrative year for the largely inactive pair. Photo: Getty Images

Reigning US Open champion Coco Gauff has been named the world’s highest paid female athlete in 2023 after earning a reported $US22.7m ($A34.5m).

Sport’s industry news publication Sportico released its list of the highest earners during the week, with the 19-year-old World No. 3 sits atop the list.

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Tennis stars dominate the top 10 list with seven, with World No. 1 Iga Swiatek ranked second with $US21.9m ($A33.2m) and Chinese skier Eileen Gu ranked third on $US20m ($A30.4m).

But the fourth and fifth ranked stars have raised some eyebrows, with 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu ranked fourth with $US16.2m ($A24.6m), while Naomi Osaka is ranked fifth on $US15m ($A22.8m).

The top-earning female athletes has a new #1 after two decades of Sharapova, Serena and Osaka. Coco Gauff takes top slot at nearly $23M via @Sportico. pic.twitter.com/MUggtDcEiY

— Kurt Badenhausen (@kbadenhausen) December 6, 2023

This is despite neither player being spotted on court much this year.

The bulk of the pair’s 2023 takings have come from endorsements.

Osaka, who took the last year off to have her first child, is unranked after a full year off the tour but has a special ranking of 46, due to the WTA’s policy for players returning from pregnancy leave.

She is set to return at the Brisbane International and was officially on the 2024 Australian Open entry list.

Osaka revealed before the last Australian Open that she was pregnant and hasn’t played in a WTA match since her second round loss to Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia in September 2022.

The four-time grand slam champion and rapper Cordae welcomed their baby girl Shai’s birth in July, before revealing the couple had broken up weeks later.

Osaka has been on top of the Forbes rich list for the past three years, having made $US37.4m ($A56.8m) in 2022, $US57.3m ($A87m) in 2021, $US51.1m ($A77.6m) in 2022.

Naomi Osaka after winning the 2021 Australian Open. Photo by William WEST / AFP

While it’s a big step down for 2023, it’s hardly surprising considering the Japanese star has largely been out of the spotlight.

The 26-year-old Osaka is the face of some of the world’s top brands, including Nike, MasterCard and Tag Heuer to name a few, as well as co-founding skincare brand Kinlo, talent agency Evolve and production company Hana Kuma.

But while she’s dominating off the court, Osaka wants to return to the top and add to her four major titles.

“In the first chapter of my tennis I kind of got away with just being myself and playing with my instincts,” she told NHK.

“I think I want to be someone that understands the game a lot more.

“I definitely want to win more Grand Slams and I guess put in more time in the French Open and Wimbledon, and play the Paris Olympics.”

Having won two Australian Opens and two US Opens, Osaka is also eager to improve her record at the French Open and Wimbledon, where her best finishes are in the third round.

Osaka is on the comeback trail. Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

Similarly, Raducanu, who is now ranked World No. 296 and will need a wildcard or to go through qualifiers to play in the Australian Open, endured a horror 2023 season.

Having played just five tournaments including five wins and four losses in nine matches with a best finish of the round of 16 at Indian Wells, the British 21-year-old had had a brutal season decimated by injury.

Needing hand and foot surgery in May, Raducanu was meant to play in an exhibition event in Macau in November but withdrew in hopes of being fully fit for the Australian Open.

But Raducanu has remained among the most well-paid women’s athletes in the world despite the lay off due to her hefty deals with British Airways, Christian Dior, Evian, HSBC, Porsche, Vodafone and Tiffany.

According to Sportico, only Eileen Gu has earned more from endorsements over the past year.

Raducanu has long been criticised for her commercial deals as she hasn’t made it past the second round of a grand slam tournament since she stunned the world by winning the 2021 US Open as a qualifier.

She also hasn’t won another WTA tournament before or since.

Raducanu remains one of the most marketable players in world tennis. Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP

However, Raducanu’s agent Max Eisenbud revealed on The Tennis Podcast earlier in the year that despite the lack of victories on court, the sponsors remained supportive.

“In Emma’s situation, we could have done 100 deals,” Eisenbud said.

“She could be doing deals, and deals and deals, they left millions and millions of dollars on the table, they strategically took the best brands with the most limited time, the brands that understood that it was going to be a rocky road.

“None of her sponsors have ever called up and been like ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe she’s not winning!’. No one. I know people want to say ‘the pressure, she’s got the pressure’, I think the pressure she has is that she won a great tournament and she wants that feeling again and she wants to keep winning.”

Top 10 highest paid female athletes, as per Sportico

1) Coco Gauff (Tennis) — $US22.7m ($A34.5m)

2) Iga Swiatek (Tennis) — $US21.9m ($A33.2m)

3) Eileen Gu (Skiing) — $US20m ($A30.4m).

4) Emma Raducanu (Tennis) — $US16.2m ($A24.6m)

5) Naomi Osaka (Tennis) — $US15m ($A22.8m)

6) Aryna Sabalenka (Tennis) — $US12.2m ($A18.5m)

7) Elena Rybakina (Tennis) — $US9.5m ($A14.4m)

8) Jessica Pegula (Tennis) — $US9m ($A13.7m)

9) Simone Biles (Gymnastics) — $US8.5m ($A12.9m)

10) Nelly Korda (Golf) — $US7.9m ($A12m)

Originally published as Naomi Osaka, Emma Raducanu on women’s athlete rich list despite inactivity