Coco Gauff crowned highest paid female athlete for 2024 but huge disparity remains

Coco Gauff has topped Forbes's list of the highest paid female athletes for 2024 and has brought in $10m more than the second highest paid female athlete albeit with the caveat that the discrepancy between male and female still remains.

The 20-year-old tennis phenom continues to dazzle and since a young age was a marketers dream. She earned more than Iga Swiatek who is in second. She continues to grow into her role in sporting royalty after initially solely relying on earnings as opposed to endorsements. The balance has tipped slightly in 2024.

Gauff's income was more than three times the $12.9 million earned by Naomi Osaka. Despite being semi-active now, Venus Williams remains a huge name sitting ninth with $12.1m. Simone Biles was 10th with $11.2 million.

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Zheng Qinwen also stars with $20.6m after winning a gold medal. As does Aryna Sabalenka with $18.7m similar to the Sportico list also released recently.

As impressive as it is, it also brings into perspective the perspex glass ceiling put into place still. For example, Forbes reported that Cristiano Ronaldo was the highest paid athlete in the world with a whopping $260m in 2024. The second highest, Jon Rahm had $218m. This pales in comparison with a gap of $226m.

Zheng Qinwen stars also on this list.

This despite the fact that in Gauff's case, she is a globally known athlete and even Swiatek, Raducanu and Osaka appearing on this list all are household names. But still a long way to go for those in this list.

Last year, Swiatek topped the charts with $23.9m. However Gauff who won $4.8m from winning the WTA Finals has tacked on further endorsements deals and she now only trails Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams who she will likely overtake in short order due to the current nature of the sport and how much she has accrued over such a short time.

At the age of 20, the world is her oyster but there is still some way to go until she is ranking among the Ronaldo and Rahm duo.