A tennis player once again topped Forbes’ list of highest-paid female athletes, with Iga Swiatek taking over the top spot.

She becomes just the fourth athlete to top the list after Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Maria Sharapova. Both Williams and Osaka had maintained a hold on the list in recent years, with Osaka taking the top spot in 2022. But Williams has retired and Osaka sat out the 2023 season to have her first child, leaving the top spot for Swiatek.

The 22-year-old Polish tennis player brought in an estimated $23.9 million in 2023, which included $9.9 million in on-court earnings after winning the women’s singles title at the French Open. She also added four new endorsement deals.

Twelve of the 20 highest-paid women athletes play tennis, as well as nine of the top 10. Eileen Gu, who came in second on the list, is the only non-tennis player to feature inside the top 10. She made $22.1 million in 2023, with the majority of her earnings coming from endorsements.

Coco Gauff, who won the 2023 US Open, placed third on the list with an estimated $21.7 million in earnings.

Even despite her break, Osaka still sits at fifth on the list having brought in $15 million in endorsements. She’s set to make her return to competitive tennis in the new year, which will include an appearance at the Australian Open.

Combined, the top 20 earners made roughly $226 million in 2023. It’s a drop from the $258 million made in 2022, but the retirement of Williams, who made $41.3 million last year, played a large part in the decrease. Still, the median for the top 20 earners increased from last year to $8.5 million (up from $7.3 million), and eight athletes surpassed $10 million. That number matches last year’s total – which set a record – and is double the number from 2021.

Other athletes inside the top 20 include golfer Nelly Korda, U.S. women’s national soccer players Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, gymnast Simone Biles and WNBA star Candace Parker.

WNBA legend Candace Parker plans to return to the court next season if she is healthy.

Parker fractured her foot during the Las Vegas Aces’ second-consecutive WNBA Finals-winning season in 2023. She underwent surgery in July after “playing on the fracture all season” and has not played in a game since. 

The 37-year-old forward was interviewed by TMZ Sports on Dec. 7 and echoed statements that she made on Good Morning America in November. 

“If I’m healthy, I wanna play,” Parker said to TMZ Sports.  

Parker started 18 games with the Aces after singing with them as a free agent in 2023, adding chemistry to their offense as the season went along. Parker hasn’t provided a timeline for how much longer she hopes to play basketball professionally, or if she wishes to play at all. But Parker has nothing left to prove, and she seems to know this. With a 16-year career under her belt and three WNBA Championships to her name, Parker’s return hinges mostly on her comfort and desire to spend time with her family. 

“If I’m healthy I’m going to play, but I’m not gonna play in pain anymore,” Parker told Robin Roberts on Good Morning America in November. “It’s too important — the trick-or-treating, the crossing over my kids — it’s too important.” 

Parker provided no update on the condition of her foot, but in the video interview by TMZ Sports, she was seen walking without a boot and without any assistance. 

While WNBA fans would surely like to see a farewell tour for Parker, she hopes that people focus on the future of the game. 

“The game of basketball is in amazing hands, regardless,” Parker said. “If you see NCAA women, if you see the WNBA, the level that these young ladies are taking the game to is exciting and I’m just happy that now we have the visibility and the platform to do it.”

Candace Parker wants to play another WNBA season, but only if she is fully healthy, she told Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America.”

The two-time WNBA MVP missed the second half of the 2023 season after undergoing surgery to repair a foot fracture in July. Before the surgery, the 37-year-old started in the first 18 games of the season for the Las Vegas Aces, averaging 9.0 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.

“I’m coming off a foot surgery. If I’m healthy, I’m going to play. But I’m not going to play in pain anymore,” she said Thursday.

She shared the same sentiment in an interview with the Associated Press, noting that she played on her injured foot throughout the first half of the 2023 season. She is still rehabbing the injury, and she has other priorities: “I want to be able to go out to the beach. I love playing beach volleyball. I don’t know if one more season is worth risking that.”

Parker enters the offseason as a free agent. She signed a one-year deal with the Aces ahead of the 2023 season.

“If I’m healthy, I’m going to play, but the game of basketball is in amazing hands regardless,” she told Roberts.

Parker saw the future of the game up close as a member of the Aces. While she had to watch from the sidelines as the Las Vegas Aces won the championship, she spent the season working alongside head coach Becky Hammon, who won her second title in as many years, and A’ja Wilson, who took home the Finals MVP award.

“I realized why they’re a first-class organization: Becky Hammon, the way she brings everybody together; A’ja, I was extremely proud of the leader she’s been all season; Chelsea Gray; Kelsey Plum — go down the line,” Parker said. “I just was really happy to be a part of that.

“And it’s extremely humbling to do it from the sideline, from a different vantage point, but it was so special to see the adversity that the team was able to overcome.”

Parker is preparing for the debut of her documentary, “Candace Parker: Unapologetic,” which will premiere at 9 p.m. ET Sunday on ESPN.

There is a lot of mutual respect between Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston.

Speaking at the 2023 espnW Women and Sports Summit, Parker noted that her mother and her daughter are “big Aliyah Boston fans.” And it’s the way that Boston has carried herself throughout her college career and into the WNBA that has made Parker a big fan as well.

“I think the biggest thing for me is to see young women athletes taking advantage of the platform that they have and doing it in the way that Aliyah does it,” Parker said. “The way that she carries herself, the family that she comes from, she’s a beast. I’ve guarded her, that’s how I know my time is coming. She’s a beast in the paint, but she steps outside the lines and she’s about family, she’s about uplifting others.”

It’s no secret that Boston is a huge fan of Parker. Boston shouted out the two-time WNBA MVP after winning the national championship at South Carolina in 2022, grabbing the mic from Holly Rowe to tell Parker hello in a moment that later went viral.

“Candace Parker, I’d like to say hi,” she said to the three-time WNBA champion, who was sitting courtside at the national title game. “I love you girl.”

And as good as Boston is on the court, Parker also knows that how you handle yourself off it is just as important. And it’s one area in which Boston has excelled, as the 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year has never made excuses for herself.

That’s one of the reasons why Boston is such a great role model for young girls, including Parker’s daughter, Parker said.

“I think the biggest thing, you handle yourself in success as you handle yourself in failure,” she said. “My biggest thing is, everything is great when you’re winning championships. But what happens when you’re not? And what happens when people say things about you on social media? Or you don’t win the championship and you come to make excuses?

“She never has done that. And I think that’s the respect that I have for her. And she’s inspiring that next young girl that wants to be herself and wants to be like Aliyah Boston.”

The Las Vegas Aces claimed their second consecutive WNBA title Wednesday night, with the 70-69 win sealing a 3-1 series victory over the New York Liberty.

A’ja Wilson led the way for the back-to-back champions, earning the Finals MVP award. The 27-year-old forward averaged 23.8 points and 11.3 rebounds per game in the postseason heading into Game 4 of the championship series.

Las Vegas becomes the first team to win back-to-back titles since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001 and 2002. In 2022, the Aces won their first title in franchise history, besting the Connecticut Sun in four games. In 2023, they repeated the feat, overcoming New York’s superteam lineup despite being hobbled by injuries.

The Aces formed a superteam of their own with the signing of two-time MVP Candace Parker ahead of the 2023 season. But Parker missed the second half of the season after undergoing foot surgery in July.

Still, the Aces finished with a 34-6 record in the regular season to surpass the 2014 Phoenix Mercury (29-5) for the most wins in WNBA history. And Parker offered her support from the sidelines throughout the postseason run.

The No. 1 seed entering the playoffs, Las Vegas lost just one game during its championship run. The Aces swept the Chicago Sky, 2-0, in the first round, and then the Dallas Wings, 3-0, in the semifinals.

In Game 3 of the WNBA Finals, an 87-73 loss to the Liberty, two Aces starters — 2022 Finals MVP Chelsea Gray and defensive specialist Kiah Stokes — sustained foot injuries, which kept them out of Game 4. But Las Vegas still managed to close out the series at New York’s Barclays Center.

With another impressive performance in the 2023 WNBA Finals, Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray is feeling the love.

In the Aces’ dominant Game 2 victory over the New York Liberty, Gray posted a double-double with 14 points and 11 assists. During the 104-76 win, she stayed loose by sharing a special handshake with Candace Parker.

Parker joined the defending champions ahead of the 2023 season, but she has been sidelined since July after undergoing surgery to repair a foot fracture. Still, she has made her presence felt for the team, from her handshake with Gray to her words of wisdom for A’ja Wilson during Game 1 of the Finals.

Praise for Gray came from onlookers as well as teammates. The 2023 WNBA Finals MVP, she contributed 20 points and 9 assists in the Aces’ Game 1 win, and she averaged a career high 15.3 points and 7.3 assists during the regular season.

NBA star Draymond Green, who has won four titles with the Golden State Warriors, shouted out Gray on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, writing: “Chill out C Gray!”

Another post praised Gray as perhaps the best passer in WNBA history, even surpassing Ticha Penicheiro — and Penicheiro responded, writing: “She’s better!!! No doubt….she can have that crown!!”

Penicheiro, who won the 2005 WNBA title with the Sacramento Monarchs, led the league in assists in seven of her 15 seasons.

Candace Parker remains sidelined for the Las Vegas Aces, but that didn’t stop her from making her voice heard during Game 1 of the 2023 WNBA Finals.

From her spot directly behind the Aces’ bench, the two-time WNBA MVP leaned forward to speak with A’ja Wilson, seemingly providing some words of wisdom to the Defensive Player of the Year.

With a 99-82 win Sunday against the New York Liberty, the defending champion Aces jumped to a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five championship series. While the Liberty held a three-point advantage at halftime, the Aces outscored them by 20 points through the final two quarters at Michelob Ultra Arena.

Parker signed with Las Vegas as a top free agent ahead of the 2023 season, but the 37-year-old forward has not played since undergoing surgery to repair a foot fracture in July. There has been no update on her status during the postseason, but she did attend the Aces’ practice Saturday.

“She brings championship presence,” Las Vegas head coach Becky Hammon said of Parker ahead of Game 1. “She’s sitting right there behind the bench, she’s always in people’s ears, she’s seeing different things, she’s communicating, so anytime we can have her with us: Yes, please.”

Before her surgery, Parker appeared as a starter in the first 18 games of the season for the Aces, averaging 9.0 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Kiah Stokes has replaced her in the starting lineup, averaging 2.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

Who are the top scorers in WNBA playoff history? Just Women’s Sports breaks down the top 10 all-time points leaders.

While Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury did not make the 2023 playoffs, the 41-year-old guard still holds the top spot on the leaderboard by more than 300 points over the next closest competitor.

Just one player – Connecticut Sun forward DeWanna Bonner – moved up the leaderboard during the 2023 postseason.

Bonner jumped to fourth place and sits 62 points back of Tamika Catchings in third. (She also features in the top 10 in postseason history in rebounds, blocks and steals.)

Just Women’s Sports presents the top 10 players in WNBA playoff history in rebounds, assists, blocks and steals.

Candace Parker could make her case as the league’s greatest postseason player based on these leaderboards. She sits in the top five in all four of these categories – and in career playoff points. But the 37-year-old has not appeared (yet) in the 2023 postseason for the Las Vegas Aces as she deals with a foot injury.

Tamika Catchings, who starred for the Indiana Fever from 2002-2016, also appears in every category. While she doesn’t rank in the top five in all of them, she does have the most steals in WNBA playoff history with 152.

Connecticut Sun forward DeWanna Bonner ranks in the top 10 in rebounds, blocks and steals, and she moved up the leaderboards in the 2023 playoffs.

Candace Parker remains sidelined for the Las Vegas Aces ahead of the 2023 WNBA Finals.

The two-time WNBA MVP signed with the Aces as a top free agent in the offseason. But she underwent surgery to repair a foot fracture in July, and while she was not ruled out for the season, there there has been no update on her status during Las Vegas’ playoff run.

The WNBA Finals begin with Game 1 at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, with the defending champion Aces taking on the New York Liberty in the best-of-five series.

Before her surgery, Parker appeared as a starter in the first 18 games of the season for the Aces, averaging 9.0 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. But she had been playing on the foot fracture throughout the season. After consulting with a doctor, surgery stood as “the only option for her to be healthy again and avoid further injury,” the Aces said in a statement.

The team has provided few updates on Parker since then. A fan posted a video on Sept. 25 showing Parker still in a walking boot and using a scooter to help her get around, but it is unclear when the video was taken.

Back at the end of August and before the end of the regular season, Aces head coach Becky Hammon gave a brief update on Parker, telling WNBA reporter Nekias Duncan that they remained in contact. But Hammon did not provide a timeline for Parker’s return, only saying she was still “in a boot, or [using] some sort of assisted walking apparatus.”

WNBA fans have plenty to say about the Aces’ chances against the Liberty, with or without Parker. Per FanDuel Sportsbook, Las Vegas is favored to win a second consecutive WNBA title at -215 odds.