Serena Williams and the Billion-Dollar Gap in Women's Sport

Serena Jameka Williams has not played a full competitive tennis season in years, yet the distance between her and every other woman in sport keeps widening.

Her estimated net worth stands at around $400 million. No other female athlete in history is even close.

Coco Gauff, the face of the new generation and the highest-paid active female athlete on the planet, is pulling in an estimated $33 million a year. That’s elite, record-breaking money in the current landscape. But in terms of accumulated wealth, she is still chasing a figure that looks almost untouchable.

This is what the financial summit of women’s sport looks like.

The $400 Million Standard

Serena’s numbers read like a different language.

• $94.8 million in career prize money, the most in WTA history.
• 23 Grand Slam singles titles.
• 73 singles trophies across 858 wins.

But the real separation comes away from the baseline. Long-term partnerships with Nike, Wilson, Audemars Piguet, Lincoln and others still generate tens of millions annually. Over the last 12 months alone, Forbes estimates she brought in around $50 million before taxes and fees.

Then there is Serena Ventures, her venture capital firm. She has raised $111 million for its first fund, backed 16 companies, and added minority stakes in the Miami Dolphins, Angel City FC, and the WNBA’s Toronto Tempo.

She retired from singles in 2022. Her empire did not.

The Chasing Pack

Behind Serena, the landscape tightens, but the money still speaks loudly.

Maria Sharapova sits a clear second at around $175 million. For more than a decade she was the commercial face of women’s sport, not just tennis. Five Grand Slam titles, a career Grand Slam, and a sponsor portfolio that once included Nike, Porsche, Head, TAG Heuer and Evian at the same time.

Across prize money and endorsements, Sharapova’s career haul is estimated at roughly $300 million. Her candy brand Sugarpova, launched in 2012, turned her name into a consumer product as much as a sporting one. Retirement in 2020 didn’t erase that; it crystallised it.

Venus Williams follows at about $95 million. A seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, five-time Wimbledon winner, and a central figure in the fight for equal prize money at the majors, Venus has combined longevity on court with sharp moves off it. Her fashion label EleVen and interior design firm VStarr Interiors broadened her portfolio, while her $42.8 million in prize money ranks fourth in WTA history.

She and Serena added another revenue stream in 2025 with a joint podcast, Stockton Street.

Danica Patrick, at roughly $80 million, breaks the tennis stranglehold. The only woman ever to win an IndyCar race, she turned that 2008 Indy Japan 300 victory into one of the most recognisable brands in American motorsport. GoDaddy, Coca-Cola and Peak antifreeze deals ran for years and dwarfed her on-track earnings. Since retiring in 2018, she has shifted into business and investment, including a 2025 move into Unrivaled, the women’s basketball league.

Behind Patrick comes Naomi Osaka at around $45 million. Her earning power between 2019 and 2025 has been extraordinary: an estimated $230 million in that span, with about $25 million from prize money and the rest from endorsements and business ventures.

Osaka co-founded the sports agency Evolve, launched KINLÒ skincare and production company Hana Kuma, and topped Forbes’ highest-paid female athlete list three straight years, peaking at $57.3 million in a single year (2021) and $51.1 million in 2022. Her current net worth figure is considered conservative by many analysts.

Annika Sörenstam, with an estimated $40 million, did in golf what Serena did in tennis: dominate an era. Seventy-two LPGA Tour titles. Ten majors. Then a second career as a business operator — golf course design, her own wine label, and the Annika Foundation. Rolex and Callaway stayed with her long after she left full-time competition in 2008. She even returned to the US Women’s Open in 2022, a reminder of the playing career that underpins the empire.

Simone Biles, at around $30 million, rewrote gymnastics history and then redefined athlete power. The most decorated gymnast of all time, she works with brands such as Audemars Piguet, Lilly, Nulo Pet Food, K18 haircare, GK Elite and Spieth America. The Netflix documentary Simone Biles Rising earned an Emmy nomination. Her decision to withdraw from multiple events at the Tokyo Olympics to protect her mental health made her the most talked-about Olympian of the decade — and, crucially, did not dent her marketability. It strengthened it.

Coco Gauff currently slots in with an estimated net worth of $28 million, level with Lindsey Vonn but on a very different trajectory.

At just 21, Gauff topped Forbes’ 2025 list of highest-paid female athletes with $33 million. She earned around $8 million on court, boosted by a French Open title, and another $25 million from endorsements with New Balance, Bose and Baker Tilly. Her net worth lags behind her annual income for now, but she is the fastest riser on the list.

Lindsey Vonn, also at about $28 million, built her wealth on a career of fearless downhill runs. Four overall World Cup titles, Olympic gold in Vancouver 2010, and long-term deals with Red Bull, Under Armour and Rolex. She retired in 2019 but remains a fixture in campaigns and media projects.

Ronda Rousey rounds out the top 10 at roughly $25 million. The first woman to headline a UFC pay-per-view. The first female inductee into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2018. She crossed from MMA into WWE and Hollywood, picking up deals with Reebok and Monster Energy along the way. Her peak earning window between 2014 and 2016 turned her into one of the most recognisable athletes on earth. In 2024, she added author to the résumé with her memoir, Our Fight.

Endorsements, Not Prize Money, Drive the Rankings

Strip this list down to its financial core and one theme dominates: endorsements.

For the top women, roughly 70% of income comes from sponsors and off-field ventures. The figure for the top men sits closer to 35%. Prize money and salaries still matter, but they are rarely the main engine.

Only five women in sports history have ever cleared $30 million in a single year: Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams, Coco Gauff, Maria Sharapova and Aryna Sabalenka. All of them did it on the back of global marketing power as much as performance.

Net worth across this top 10 stretches from $25 million to $400 million. That range reflects careers, yes, but also timing, marketability, and the willingness of brands to finally bet big on women’s sport.

The Present and the Next Wave

Right now, Serena stands alone as the richest female athlete in history. Her $400 million fortune, built on prize money, endorsements, venture capital, equity stakes and real estate, is the benchmark.

Among active stars, Coco Gauff leads the annual earnings race at $33 million, while Naomi Osaka — back on tour and still a commercial magnet — sits on an estimated $45 million net worth and counting.

Sharapova remains far ahead of Osaka in accumulated wealth at around $175 million, proof of what two decades of top-tier endorsements can do.

Beyond this list, women’s football is quietly rewriting its own financial story. Players like Aitana Bonmatí, Alexia Putellas, Sam Kerr and a rising group of African stars are signing record-breaking club deals and endorsement packages that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

The money is still nowhere near the men’s game. But the ceiling keeps moving.

The question now is not whether anyone will join Serena in the $400 million stratosphere. It’s which of this new generation — Gauff, Osaka, Biles, or a name we haven’t yet learned — will be the first to turn today’s record contracts into tomorrow’s sporting fortune.