Coco Gauff Named World's Highest Paid Female Athlete for Third Straight Year

Eight of the top-10 highest-paid female athletes this year are tennis players.

Coco Gauff was the highest-paid female athlete for the third year in a row. / Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

For the third straight year, tennis superstar Coco Gauff was named the highest-paid female athlete, Forbes announced on Tuesday in their annual list for 2025.

At age 21, Gauff earned a total of $33 million this past year from $8 million in winnings on the court and $25 million from endorsements off the court. Winning the French Open in May definitely helped increase her annual earnings this year.

This is a slight decrease from Gauff’s earnings in 2024, which was estimated to be $34.4 million. This amount pushed Gauff above a major milestone, she became just the third woman to ever hit a $30 million income in a single calendar year behind fellow tennis stars Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka. In 2023, Gauff led the list with $22.7 million.

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Tennis stars were the three highest-paid female athletes in 2025 as Aryna Sabalenka earned $30 million (making her the fourth woman to hit this mark) this season, splitting $15 million from her tennis appearances and $15 million from endorsements. After Sabalenka is Iga Świątek, who earned $25.1 million combined this year.

Eight of the 10 highest-paid female athletes are tennis players this year. Apart from Gauff, Sabalenka and Świątek, stars like Qinwen Zheng (No. 5, $22.6 million), Madison Keys (No. 6, $13.4 million), Osaka (No. 8, $12.5 million), Elena Rybakina (No. 8, $12.5 million) and Jessica Pegula (No. 10, $12.3 million).

Here’s the full list of the 20 female athletes named this year.

Athlete	Sport	Combined Earnings
Coco Gauff	Tennis	$33 million
Aryna Sabalenka	Tennis	$30 million
Iga Swiatek	Tennis	$25.1 million
Eileen Gu	Skiing	$23.1 million
Qinwen Zheng	Tennis	$22.6 million
Madison Keys	Tennis	$13.4 million
Nelly Korda	Golf	$13 million
Naomi Osaka	Tennis	$12.5 million
Elena Rybakina	Tennis	$12.5 million
Jessica Pegula	Tennis	$12.3 million
Caitlin Clark	WNBA	$12.1 million
Amanda Anisimova	Tennis	$11.3 million
Sabrina Ionescu	WNBA	$10.5 million
Jeeno Thitikul	Golf	$10.3 million
Angel Reese	WNBA	$9.4 million
Paige Bueckers	WNBA	$9.1 million
Jasmine Paolini	Tennis	$8.3 million
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone	Track and Field	$8.2 million
Lindsey Vonn	Skiing	$8.2 million
Ilona Maher	Rugby	$8.1 million

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