Fever rookie Caitlin Clark rocketed to the upper tiers of Sportico's annual highest-paid women's sports athletes report on Wednesday, landing in 10th place with an estimated $11 million in yearly earnings.
With tournaments like the US Open guaranteeing equal purses across men's and women's events, tennis players dominated the findings, accounting for nine of the 15 entries. This includes first-place Coco Gauff, who, with $9.4 million in prizes plus $21 million in endorsements, tops the list for the second year in a row.
Skier Eileen Gu came in second, complementing her individual earnings with the list's highest-estimated endorsement profits at $22 million. Gymnast Simone Biles came in at No. 9 with an estimated $11.1 million in total income.
Golfers Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko also made the cut, mirroring the LPGA Tour's expanded purses.
Report highlights endorsements in women's sports
The report underlines the continued importance of endorsements in the women's game — particularly within team sports, where many athletes rely on supplemental income to boost relatively small pro salaries.
However, 2024's estimated $221 million in total earnings is up 27% over last year, with 11 athletes making at least $10 million compared to six in 2023.
Sportico's 15 highest-paid women's sports athletes
1. Coco Gauff: $30.4 million
Prize money: $9.4 million | Endorsements: $21 million
2. Eileen Gu: $22.1 million
Prize money: $62,000 | Endorsements: $22 million
3. Iga Świątek: $21.4 million
Prize money: $8.4 million | Endorsements: $13 million
4. Zheng Qinwen: $20.6 million
Prize money: $5.6 million | Endorsements: $15 million
5. Aryna Sabalenka: $17.7 million
Prize money: $9.7 million | Endorsements: $8 million
6. Naomi Osaka: $15.9 million
Prize money: $870,000 | Endorsements: $15 million
7. Emma Raducanu: $14.7 million
Prize money: $671,000 | Endorsements: $14 million
8. Nelly Korda: $14.4 million
Prize money: $4.4 million | Endorsements: $10 million
9. Simone Biles: $11.1 million
Prize money: $135,000 | Endorsements: $11 million
10. Caitlin Clark: $11.1 million
Salary/bonus: $100,000 | Endorsements: $11 million
11. Jasmine Paolini: $10 million
Prize money: $6.5 million | Endorsements: $3.5 million
12. Jeeno Thitikul: $9.1 million
Prize money: $7.1 million | Endorsements: $2 million
13. Jessica Pegula: $8.2 million
Prize money: $4.2 million | Endorsements: $4 million
14. Elena Rybakina: $7.9 million
Prize money: $3.9 million | Endorsements: $4 million
15. Lydia Ko: $6.7 million
Prize money: $3.2 million | Endorsements: $3.5 million
Welcome back to Fast Friends with Kelley O'Hara and Lisa Leslie!
In today's episode, our hosts kick things off by chatting through last weekend's NWSL quarterfinals, with the top four teams proving their dominance in four heated battles. O'Hara then shouts out the two center backs who notched their first goals of the year this postseason: Washington's Tara McKeown and Gotham's Tierna Davidson.
Later turning to the NWSL semifinals, Leslie zeroes in on this weekend's bout between No. 1 Orlando and No. 4 Kansas City — a game that pits leading goalscorers Temwa Chawinga and Barbra Banda against one another. "Is the matchup that we've been waiting for?" she asks.
O'Hara agrees with her co-host. While she dubs the semifinal between No. 2 Washington and No. 3 Gotham more of a "chess match," O'Hara predicts the Current and Pride's clash to be "end line to end line soccer."
"Orlando was able to stay top of the table [while] Kansas City is fourth, so in reality you would think Orlando should walk into this game feeling very confident and know what you need to do to be successful," says O'Hara. "But it's playoffs, so anything can happen."
"I'm just gonna be sat on the couch, locked in," she adds. "Get the popcorn out, get ready."
Fast Friends discusses NWSL awards
Before moving on from the pitch, Leslie and O'Hara discuss the NWSL's end-of-season awards frontrunners. The hosts gamble that Chawinga will take MVP honors while Spirit midfielder Croix Bethune will walk away as the 2024 Rookie of the Year — despite only playing 17 matches before a post-Olympics knee injury limited her to the sidelines.
Then, the legendary athletes turn to the tennis courts to celebrate Coco Gauff's recent WTA Finals win before chatting through the top teams and players headlining NCAA basketball's early season action.
And last but not least, O'Hara and Leslie reveal a few of the special guests joining them onstage at their upcoming NWSL Championship Weekend Live Show.
About Fast Friends with Kelley O'Hara and Lisa Leslie
Coming off the success of JWS's Olympic commentary show The Gold Standard, Fast Friends features two legendary athletes serving up insider insights and unique takes on the biggest stories in women's sports every week.
Subscribe to Just Women's Sports on YouTube to never miss an episode.
World No. 3 tennis star Coco Gauff won the 2024 WTA Finals on Saturday, becoming the youngest US player to take the tournament since Serena Williams in 2001.
Gauff's championship came by way of a grueling three-hour 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) final match win over reigning Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen.
The 20-year-old's road to the $4.8 million purse — the largest in women's tennis history — included just her second-ever win over No. 2 Iga Świątek in the group round and a semifinal victory over No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Friday.
A winning end to a rollercoaster season
When asked about her 2024 season, Gauff told reporters, "There’s been a lot of ups and downs. At moments, it felt great. At other moments, it felt awful. Basically, a typical year on tour."
Her low point was a disappointing attempt to defend her 2023 US Open title. Gauff stumbled out of the US Grand Slam in the fourth round this fall.
That performance led Gauff to an apparently productive coaching change. She left coach Brad Gilbert, adding Matt Daly to her team to work with Jean-Christophe “JC” Faurel.
Since then, Gauff has gone 13-2, ultimately adding the China Open and WTA Finals titles to her June French Open doubles trophy.
After silencing doubters with Saturday's victory, Gauff took to social media, writing "lol safe to say I beat the bad season allegations."
A double dose of WTA Finals history
Just before Gauff took the court, Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe were crowned the season's doubles champions.
Dabrowski and Routliffe avenged their Wimbledon final loss by defeating US player Taylor Townsend and her Czech partner Kateřina Siniaková 7-5, 6-3 on Saturday. They are now the first athletes from Canada and New Zealand to win the WTA Finals doubles title.
For only the second time in 13 career tries, 20-year-old US tennis star Coco Gauff defeated former World No. 1 Iga Świątek in straight sets at the 2024 WTA Finals on Tuesday, guaranteeing Gauff a spot in Saturday's semifinals.
No. 3 Gauff clinched the 6-3, 6-4 result in one hour and 48 minutes on Riyadh’s Center Court to join Aryna Sabalenka as the first two players to book tickets to the semifinals.
"I knew going into the match, despite our head-to-head [history], I had a lot of confidence and I felt like I was playing great tennis," Gauff said after the match.
The first and only other time Gauff defeated Świątek was at the 2023 Cincinnati Open, when the pair battled to a 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4 finish. Gauff went on to win that tournament, just weeks before earning her first Grand Slam championship by winning the 2023 US Open.
Gauff's Tuesday win also guarantees that Sabalenka will finish the calendar year as World No. 1, bolstered by her 2024 US Open win and her strong performances this week.
Semifinals take shape
While Sabalenka and No. 7 Qinwen Zheng both advanced from the Purple Group on Wednesday, ending No. 4 Jasmine Paolini's and No. 5 Elena Rybakina's WTA Finals runs, Gauff and Świątek each have one more group match on the tournament's docket.
Gauff will aim to win the Orange Group outright by defeating No. 8 Barbora Krejčíková on Thursday. As for Krejčíková, she'll be competing for a shot at advancing over Świątek, who will look to defeat alternate Daria Kasatkina to claim the final semifinals spot.
Pegula withdraws with injury
Kasatkina is stepping in at the eleventh hour after Gauff's compatriot, No. 6 Jessica Pegula, withdrew from the competition with a left knee injury on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old Pegula, who was already eliminated from advancing after falling 6-3, 6-3 to Krejčíková on Tuesday, has nursed the injury since before the WTA Finals began.
"What started as a really small issue flared over the last two matches and I just can’t continue tomorrow," Pegula tweeted. "I’m sorry to the fans and tournament. I really had a great week of prep and had high hopes here but it just wasn’t meant to be."
How to watch Coco Gauff at Thursday's WTA Finals
Świątek and Kasatkina will kick off the final group-stage day at the 2024 WTA Finals at 7:30 AM ET, with Gauff taking on Krejčíková at 10 AM ET. Both matches will air live on the Tennis Channel.
The year's final major tennis tournament begins on Saturday when the sport's highest-ranked athletes descend on Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to compete in the 2024 WTA Finals.
Featuring the eight best singles players and eight best doubles teams, Slam winners and Olympic medalists alike will compete for the Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova trophies before the winter break.
Also up for grabs is a piece of the record $15.25 million prize pool, larger than any Grand Slam purse and a nearly 70% increase over the 2023 pot. Should the champions go undefeated through the tournament, the singles winner will bank $5.155 million, while the top doubles duo will take home $1.125 million.
Eight days of elite tennis action
In both the WTA Finals singles and doubles categories, competitors are split into two groups of four.
Each singles player or doubles pair will play all others in their group for a total of three matches across the first six days. The top two in each group will then compete in the November 8th semifinals, with both finals set for November 9th.
In the singles contest, the Purple Group includes No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 4 Jasmine Paolini, No. 5 Elena Rybakina, and No. 7 Qinwen Zheng, while the Orange Group lists No. 2 Iga Świątek, No. 3 Coco Gauff, No. 6 Jessica Pegula, and No. 8 Barbora Krejčíková.
In both competitions, 25% of the top eight athletes represent the USA. Along with Gauff and Pegula on the singles court, the doubles tournament includes No. 5 US duo Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk as well as Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Taylor Townsend in the Nos. 6 and 8 pairs, respectively.
Will Sabalenka play Świątek at the WTA Finals?
A showdown between Sabalenka and 2023 WTA Finals champion Świątek could be the event's blockbuster match. The top-ranked players have yet to square off in a major tournament in 2024 — a year rife with highs and lows for both athletes.
Sabalenka started the WTA season by winning her second Australian Open, then later struggled through a shoulder injury that forced her to withdraw from Wimbledon. She capped the Grand Slam season in style, though, winning her first US Open in September.
As for five-time Grand Slam victor Świątek, 2024 brought the Polish phenom her fourth French Open title. A rockier second half to the season — including a third round and quarterfinal ousting from Wimbledon and the US Open, and a fall from the No. 1 ranking for the first time since November 2023 — motivated Świątek to seek a new coach.
How to watch the 2024 WTA Finals tennis tournament
The 2024 WTA Finals kicks off on Saturday, when US Open winner Sabalenka plays 2024 Olympic gold medalist Zheng at 11 AM ET.
Later, 2023 US Open champ Gauff will take on 2024 US Open runner-up Pegula at 8:45 AM ET on Sunday.
All 2024 WTA Finals matches will be broadcast live on the Tennis Channel.
In her first-ever Grand Slam quarterfinal victory, No. 6-seed Jessica Pegula knocked No. 1 Iga Świątek out of the 2024 US Open in straight sets Wednesday night.
Now in uncharted territory, the US tennis star will aim at extending her historic run in tonight's semifinal against unseeded Czech opponent, Karolina Muchová.
Quarterfinal victory proved Pegula's dominance
The 30-year-old Pegula, who has yet to drop a set all tournament, took control of yesterday's match immediately, winning the first game on Świątek's serve — the five-time Grand Slam winner's first broken serve in 26 games.
Świątek, the 2022 US Open champion, committed 18 unforced errors in the first set. Visibly frustrated with her performance, the Polish phenom retreated to the locker room to regroup — a move that ultimately proved unsuccessful in the wake of Pegula's relentless 6-2, 6-4 victory.
After six previous Grand Slam quarterfinal attempts, Pegula celebrated, telling the crowd post-match that "there have been so many freaking times, and I just kept losing.... So thank God I was able to do it. And finally — finally! — I can say, 'Semifinalist.'"
Two US contenders will feature in tonight's semis
Pegula isn't the only contender making her Grand Slam semifinal debut tonight. Before Pegula takes the court, fellow US player No. 13 Emma Navarro will take on reigning back-to-back Australian Open champion No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka.
Sabalenka, who fell to US star Coco Gauff in last year's US Open, hopes for better luck against Navarro — the player who ousted the No. 3 defending champ last weekend.
If both Pegula and Navarro emerge victorious, Saturday's US Open final would be the first contested by two US athletes since Sloane Stephens defeated Madison Keys for the 2017 title. It would also pit two New York locals against each other on their home Grand Slam court: Pegula hails from Buffalo, NY, while Navarro was born in NYC.
How to watch the 2024 US Open semifinals
Navarro and Sabalenka will kick off tonight's Grand Slam action at 7 PM ET, with Pegula's match against Muchová immediately following. Both semis will air on ESPN.
With the US Open's first round coming to a close, both surprise performances and expected wins headlined the season's final Grand Slam heading into today's second round.
Naomi Osaka pulls off stunning upset with US Open win
Looking decidedly dangerous, 2020 US Open champ Naomi Osaka — a wild card entry at 88th in the world — beat No. 10 Jeļena Ostapenko in straight sets on Tuesday.
After stepping away for mental health reasons and the birth of her daughter, yesterday marked Osaka’s first top-10 win in over four years.
"Last year, I was watching Coco play, and I so badly wanted to step on these courts again and I didn’t know if I could," an emotional Osaka told reporters after the victory. "Just to win this match and to be in this atmosphere means so much to me."
Other past US Open champions see mixed results
Joining Osaka in the second round are fellow US Open winners Iga Świątek (2022) and Coco Gauff (2023). No. 3 Gauff aced her first match 6-2, 6-0 on Monday, but No. 1 Świątek faced a tougher challenge from Russian Kamilla Rakhimova on Tuesday.
The Polish phenom made 41 unforced errors, coming dangerously close to a forced third set before a tiebreaker allowed Świątek to continue her hunt for a sixth Grand Slam title.
Other past US Open champs weren’t so lucky, with 2019's Bianca Andreescu and 2021's Emma Raducanu joining 2017's Sloane Stephens on the ousted list.
Retiring Danielle Collins exits final Grand Slam singles tournament
While most of the 32 seeded singles players survived round one, US star Danielle Collins's run ended on Tuesday. Coming off a solid fourth-round Wimbledon exit, the world No. 11 fell to No. 49 Caroline Dolehide 1-6, 7-5, 6-4, despite defeating the fellow US pro in five of their six previous meetings.
Collins, who announced her plan to retire after this season in January, suffered an abdominal injury at the Olympics that saw her miss the Toronto and Cincinnati US Open tune-ups.
Madison Keys was just 16 when she featured in her first US Open, and the home Grand Slam holds a special place in the now-29-year-old's tennis star's heart.
"It's truly the best, greatest feeling in the entire world," Keys told JWS last week. "I think there have been some of my most heartbreaking moments in front of a US Open crowd, but also some of my absolute most favorite, literally to the point of mid-match getting goosebumps."
Ahead of today's 2024 US Open kickoff, Keys commented on the power of the New York Slam's fans, saying, "The thing I've always loved about playing at the US Open is that, literally no matter how down and out you felt, the entire crowd was still there trying to get you through and push you through."
A chaotic 2024 sets up Keys's US Open appearance
The world No. 14 has had a rollercoaster 2024 season, missing the Australian Open due to injury before making solid finishes at WTA events in Miami, Madrid, and Strasbourg.
The Illinois product then suffered an injury at Wimbledon, withdrawing in the Round of 16 while in a winning position against eventual finalist Jasmine Paolini. "As devastating as that match against Jasmine was, it was also one of my favorite matches that I've played," she explained. "Just because I feel like we were both playing so well."
Her veteran perspective allowed Keys to calmly view the injury for what it was: a simple setback. "[Wimbledon] was really reassuring that I didn't do anything wrong," Keys said. "It wasn't this big thing that we had to worry about or manage. It was just really horrible timing."
"I've started to change my perspective on success and goals," she added. "At the end of every day, being able to say, 'Okay, did I accomplish my goal? If not, what were the lessons learned? How can I move forward with them?' I think that's honestly the best way to go about success in tennis."
Prioritizing health is vital to Keys's tennis career
The 2016 Rio Olympic semifinalist pulled out of the 2024 Paris Games in an effort to maintain her wellness and gear up for the season's final Slam — a decision she says was hard-won.
"It’s one of the greatest honors to be able to play for your country and play at an Olympics, and it was honestly one of my favorite tennis moments of my life," she said. "But I'm getting older — I've been on tour for a long time. They like to call me a veteran now, and I think you have to start shifting gears a little bit to prioritize the best schedule... to be able to maintain a high level and stay healthy."
At this stage in her career, Keys notes that every little thing matters, like putting nutrition and rest first in the run-up to another US Open while also partnering with supplement companies to boost her conditioning along the way.
"It's a lot about the details — we're constantly putting our bodies under insane amounts of stress and traveling," she said. "Being able to, like, literally not get a cold, something as small as that. I've been lucky to be able to partner with Thorne — that has been my absolute go-to — because if I can do all of the things right, I'm setting myself up for success.
"The other thing is prioritizing recovery, making sure that I have my whey protein, getting a good night's sleep, and being able to recover — those things are so important. Most people would think, 'Oh, it's about time in the gym and on the court.' That's obviously really important, but it's all of the little details that create the full picture."
Recognizing that pacing her seasons and listening to her body will help protect her health and, ultimately, her career, Keys is clear on her path forward. "At this point in my career, my biggest goal is I want to play tennis for as long as I want to play tennis," she said. "I don't want some outside force to be the reason that I have to step away from the game."
The tennis season’s final Grand Slam gets underway today, when the US Open takes the hardcourt in Queens, New York. Topping last year’s record-setting prize pool by $10 million, this year’s $75 million purse means the singles champion will walk away with $3.6 million.
Led by Gauff, US women chase history
With 21 US women in this year's draw — including five ranked in the WTA’s Top 15 — domestic fans are eyeing another trophy after world No. 3 Coco Gauff became the first US teen since 1999 to win the Slam last year. This time around, Gauff is hunting more history: If she repeats, she’ll become the first back-to-back US title-winner since Serena Williams’s 2012-14 three-peat.
That said, Gauff's recent early exits from Wimbledon, the Olympics, and last week’s Cincinnati Open have placed other stars in the US Open spotlight.
A US player has yet to feature in a Grand Slam final in 2024, and contenders like world No. 6 Jessica Pegula, No. 11 Danielle Collins, and No. 14 Madison Keys are all looking to right that ship.
Top stars aim to avoid more 2024 upsets
In a season rife with upsets — from No. 26 Leylah Annie Fernandez beating No. 4 Elena Rybakina in Cincinnati to No. 24 Donna Vekić ousting Gauff at the Olympics — this Slam is anyone’s to take.
After missing Wimbledon and the Olympics, reigning Australian Open champ No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka is this year's favorite after falling to Gauff in the 2023 final, though No. 1 Iga Świątek could pose a problem in Sabalenka's hunt. The Polish phenom already knows how to win this Slam, having taken the 2022 US Open trophy. If victorious again, the 23-year-old will have six major titles to her name.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan's No. 4 Elena Rybakina will aim to break her US Open curse of falling by the Round of 32, but a season wracked with illness, early exits, and personnel trouble could set her off course.
The field could also see a fresh face like Buffalo product Pegula or China’s 2024 Olympic gold medalist No. 7 Qinwen Zheng lifting hardware at Arthur Ashe next month.
How to watch the US Open
The 2024 US Open's main draw kicks off today at 11 AM ET, with live coverage across ABC and ESPN networks.
With the Grand Slam calendar nearing its close, stars flocked to this week's Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati to prepare for this year's US Open. Reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka earned the win at the WTA 1000 event, taking down US player Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-5 on Monday.
Fatigue impacts returning Olympic tennis players
With a uniquely crowded schedule this summer, partially due to the Paris Olympics, players entered this week with varying levels of fitness and fatigue.
China's newly crowned Olympic gold medalist Qinwen Zheng fell in the Round of 16 and Croatian silver medalist Donna Vekic failed to advance out of the Round of 64. Bronze medalist Iga Świątek reached the semifinals before losing to Sabalenka, while Pegula made this week's final match after competing for the US in Paris.
Fellow Team USA Olympians Coco Gauff and Emma Navarro fell in Cincinnati's Round of 32 and Round of 64, respectively.
Rest aided Sabalenka's Cincinnati Open win
On the other hand, Sabalenka missed Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury and, as a Belarusian athlete, did not participate in the Olympics. The world No. 3-ranked player returned to the hardcourt looking as sharp as she did at the beginning of the year, ultimately earning Monday's victory.
"This trophy means a lot, it is a really big achievement, especially coming after injury, with this fear of getting injured again," Sabalenka told press in Cincinnati. "My team did everything they could to make sure I felt as good as I can and I am proud of myself I was able to handle all of those emotions."
Tennis stars shift focus to US Open
The 26-year-old, who hit her first No. 1 ranking in September 2023 before relinquishing the title back to Świątek, will be hunting her third Grand Slam title and first at the US Open when play begins at the New York tournament next week. Sabalenka finished the 2023 US Open as the runner-up to Gauff, who earned her first major tournament title in three sets last September.
With a short turnaround and major surface change from the Paris Games, form and fitness could play a major role at this year's US Open. A number of athletes declined to participate in the Olympics in order to focus on the year's final Slam, and all eyes will be on Queens next week to see if those decisions paid off.