Forbes: Iga Swiatek highest-paid female athlete in 2023; Gu Ailing, Zheng Qinwen hit record highs in annual earnings

Forbes has released its ranking of the world’s highest-paid female athletes in 2023, featuring 20 top-earning women who collectively made an estimated $226 million from on-field and off-field earnings. At 22 years old, Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek topped the list with an estimated $23.9 million. The ranking includes prominent figures like Gu Ailing, Coco Gauff, Emma Raducanu, and Naomi Osaka. The list is dominated by tennis players, with 12 out of 20 athletes belonging to the sport. The oldest athlete on the list is 43-year-old Venus Williams, while the youngest is 19-year-old Coco Gauff. The average on-field earnings for the top 20 athletes is $2.69 million. Gu Ailing had the highest off-field earnings at $22 million, and there is a 13 percent drop in cumulative earnings compared to 2022. Notably, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Kylian Mbappe top the list of the world’s highest-paid male athletes in 2023. The earnings gap between male and female athletes is highlighted, with the top 20 male athletes earning more than eight times the amount of the top 20 female athletes.

Source – CGTN