Coco Gauff ranks as the highest-paid female athlete for the third year in a row

With an estimated $33 million in earnings in 2024, tennis pro Coco Gauff has landed on Forbes’ list of highest-paid athletes in the top spot.

Looks like Coco Gauff isn’t just swinging big on the court — she’s doing so at the bank, too.

Forbes’ annual list of the world’s highest-paid female athletes arrived on Tuesday, Dec. 16, and for the third consecutive year, the 21-year-old tennis star claimed the top spot.

In a year that saw the tennis pro win her second Grand Slam title at the French Open, add another WTA victory with a title in Wuhan, launch her own management company, Coco Gauff Enterprises, and land a major endorsement deal with Mercedes-Benz, Forbes estimates she earned a total of $33 million — including $8 million in prize money and $25 million from endorsements.

While the total still secures her No. 1 ranking, it represents a slight dip from 2024, when Sports Illustrated estimated Gauff earned $34.4 million. Even so, the milestone places her in rare company: Gauff is just the third woman athlete in history to surpass $30 million in a single year, joining tennis icons Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka. She is also one of only 14 female athletes to clear the $10 million mark this year.

Elsewhere on the list, Osaka ranked No. 8 with $12.5 million, while WNBA standout Angel Reese landed at No. 15, earning an estimated $9.4 million in her breakout year.

Forbes also noted a key limitation in its methodology: the rankings only include athletes actively competing in their sports. As a result, stars like Simone Biles, who has not competed since the 2024 Paris Olympics, and Venus Williams, who played just three tournaments this year, were excluded — despite their continued earning power.

Still, the broader picture highlights the significant financial challenges that women’s sports face.

Despite rising viewership, sponsorships, and cultural momentum, female athletes continue to be dramatically underpaid compared to their male counterparts. No woman has cracked Forbes’ list of the 50 highest-paid athletes overall since 2023, and this year’s cutoff soared to $53.6 million — more than $20 million higher than Gauff’s total. Collectively, the top 20 men on that list earned roughly $2.3 billion, nearly eight times the combined earnings of the highest-paid women. Stephen Curry ranked second with $156 million, LeBron James came in at No. 6 with $133.8 million, and Kevin Durant rounded out the top 10 at $101.4 million.