Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams net worth: how much have they made?
While their on-court rivalry generates plenty of excitement for fans, brands are keen to be associated with two of the world's most marketable stars.
Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams take to the court on Thursday for a place in the Australian Open final and the chance to add another slam to their hauls, the Japanese having claimed three in her career and the evergreen American racking up 23 during the course of her illustrious time on tour, one short of the all-time record set by Margaret Court, with the caveat of the Australian’s record of 24 spanning the amateur and professional eras.
The rivalry between Osaka and Williams is a relatively new feature of the women’s game – the two have met only three times in competition. Osaka holds the advantage with a record of 2-1 against the US great but the true measure of the 23-year-old’s standing is that she will go into Thursday’s contest as the narrow favourite against arguably the greatest player of all time. Williams, currently ranked 11, was taken to three sets by seventh seed Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round while Osaka, the world number three, saved match points against Garbiñe Muguruza at the same stage. Neither player is invulnerable but equally both possess a mental edge over their rivals based on unshakeable self-belief and the searing power they put behind their shots.
Osaka vs Williams: prize money
Osaka has a career singles record of 233/133 – a staggering number of matches to have played at the age of 23 and with almost a year chalked off due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Williams, though, has lost only 147 games in her career, winning 843 in singles and adding 190 in doubles. With 73 singles titles to her name and 23 in doubles, Williams has earned over $93 million in winnings while Osaka has banked $17.7m on the back of six WTA titles, including the 2018 US Open, 2019 Australian Open and 2020 US Open.
Osaka overtakes Serena as highest-paid athlete
In 2019 Osaka and Williams topped the rankings for endorsement earnings in sport with the Japanese reaching $16m in off-court earnings to the American’s $25m. Last year, Osaka became the highest-paid female athlete in the world, earning $37.4 million, with $34m of that amount coming from endorsement deals.
Osaka is sponsored by Japanese sports company Yonex, which provides her rackets, and has deals with Nike, Louis Vuitton, Nissan, Citizen, Nissin Foods, Shiseido, Wowow and All Nippon Airways.
Williams, meanwhile, has long been the gold standard for endorsement deals. Nike were swift to capitalize on the American’s global popularity, signing her to a $40m deal in 2004 and supplying her court attire, while Wilson has provided Williams with rackets throughout her career.
Among Williams’ endorsement deals are Gatorade, Delta, Aston Martin, Pepsi, IBM, Intel, Chase Bank and Beats by Dre headphones.
In 2017, Williams was the only female athlete on the Forbes list of the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes. On the 2020 list, Osaka is the highest-placed female athlete at 29, two places below Rafa Nadal, while Williams is number 33, the two tennis players making sure the list features two women for the first time since 2016 (Williams and Maria Sharapova).
Serena makes Forbes America's Richest Self-Made Women list
While Osaka was the world’s highest-paid female athlete in 2020, Williams became the first athlete ever to make the Forbes list of America's Richest Self-Made Women in 2019 and remained on the list this year with an estimated net worth of $225m.
Both players have interests in the NWSL, with Williams among a raft of high-profile investors in a Los Angeles expansion team and Osaka recently becoming a team owen at North Carolina Courage.