Naomi Osaka is officially the highest-paid female athlete ever, surpassing her idol Serena Williams by over $1 million to earn the title at just 22-years-old.
In the last year, the Japanese-Haitian tennis star racked up $37.4 million from prize money and endorsement deals. This is $1.4 million more than Serena, making her the highest-paid female athlete in a single year. The record was previously held by Maria Sharapova, who made $29.7 million in 2015.
Despite being the top female earner in sports, Osaka ranks #29 on the list of the highest-paid athletes in the world.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" src="https://editor.urbanlinx.net/wp-content/uploads/userfiles/38/82/448238_9f6d6e688a9e8be52a226fa596af2b61.jpg" alt="Naomi Osaka Becomes Highest-Paid Female Athlete Ever"><figcaption>Julian Finney/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
As specified by Forbes, the 22-year-old is backed by over fifteen endorsement deals, including partnerships with Nissan Motors, Shiseido, and more. She also signed an unprecedented deal with <a href="/tags/nike" class="text-word" target="_blank" >Nike</a>, worth over $10 million, which does not require her to wear full Nike-branded apparel during her games. 
&#8220;To those outside the tennis world, Osaka is a relatively fresh face with a great back story,&#8221; said David Carter, a sports business professor at USC’s Marshall School of Business. &#8220;Combine that with being youthful and bicultural, two attributes that help her resonate with younger, global audiences, and the result is the emergence of a global sports marketing icon.&#8221;
Congratulations to Naomi Osaka on this incredible feat.
<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2020/05/22/naomi-osaka-is-the-highest-paid-female-athlete-ever-topping-serena-williams/#6d4ea62e1fd3" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">[via]</a>