Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka are the flag bearers of tennis when it comes to global popularity both on and off the court
Serena Williams (2) and Naomi Osaka (6) have made it to the top 10 of SportsPro’s list of most marketable athletes 2022. The sports website has released a list of 50 athletes based on research, figures and data and Serena and Osaka are the only tennis players in the top 10 of this list. Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo tops the list ahead of Serena while the retired American superstar has left behind stalwarts like Hamilton, LeBron James and Messi to occupy second place.
Serena Williams recently retired from professional tennis but that doesn’t affect her global net worth in any way. Serena is the undisputed G.O.A.T of women’s tennis and an absolute rockstar off the court as well. Williams is a successful businesswoman and is the chief of a number of organisations besides being the brand ambassador of multiple global brands. Therefore, the tennis superstar is rightfully placed second on this list.
Naomi Osaka is still very much active on the professional circuit and her popularity seems to grow across the world with each passing day. It’s probable that we will see Osaka even higher up in the list in the near future.
Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka are both global ambassadors and easily marketable
Serena Williams was active on the WTA tour for more than 27 years, having turned pro in 1995. Williams’ success led to unprecedented earnings on and off the court. Her $94.6 million in career prize money is more than double that of Venus, who ranks second with $42.3 million in career earnings. Off the court, Serena has made more than $350 million in endorsements since turning pro in 1995.
After her retirement, Serena is solely focussing on how to grow her business. She is the founder of Serena Ventures, which raised $111 million in an inaugural funding round earlier this year. The venture capital firm focuses on startups with underrepresented founders (which make up 76% of its portfolio), including women, Latinos and African Americans and other underrepresented groups.
On the other hand, Naomi Osaka has more than 20 corporate partners, making $58 million before taxes and agents’ fees over the last 12 months from brands including Nike, Mastercard and Louis Vuitton. Only Serena Williams is anywhere close to Osaka in this aspect among female athletes. Williams has more than a dozen endorsement deals of her own, pushing her off-court haul to $45 million, tenth-best in the world.
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