Mixing wins and losses on the court, striking gold off the court - The 2024 tale of Osaka and Raducanu

Britain’s Emma Raducanu and Japan’s Naomi Osaka featured among the biggest earners in women’s tennis in 2024. Both players had a mixed season according to their own standards but managed to earn big in off-the-field endorsements.

In Forbes’ list of women’s tennis players' biggest earners, both Raducanu and Osaka earned big in 2024. Interestingly, both ended up earning the same amount of money, and they followed the same pattern. The report stated that both players earned $12.9 million in the calendar year. Both earned roughly about $0.9 million in prize money for their on-court performances, whereas they earned $12 million in on-the-court commitments with different brands.

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Raducanu, who was once regarded as the next big thing after winning the US Open in 2021, returned to the court earlier this year after spending nearly 12 months on the sidelines. The 22-year-old, who won a major title at the age of 18 in New York, played just 31 matches in 2024, where she won on 18 occasions and suffered 13 defeats. Her most impressive outing in the calendar came in the Rothesay Open, where her journey ended at the semifinal stage after losing to fellow British player Katie Boulter with a score of 6-7, 6-3, 6-4. Her last appearance in 2024 came in the Korea Open, where she was forced to retire in the quarterfinal against Russia’s Daria Kasatkina.

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Osaka, who is the former world number one and has won four Grand Slam titles in her career, also returned to the court earlier this year after staying out of action for more than a year because of pregnancy, played 37 matches across all competitions where she managed to win 20 times and suffered defeats on 17 occasions. Her most impressive this year came in the Qatar Open, where she was knocked out after losing in the quarterfinal to Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 7-6.