Forbes list of highest-paid female athletes in 2023: PV Sindhu lone Indian, tennis dominates

PV Sindhu has once again made it to the Forbes’ list of highest-paid women athletes. In the list for 2023, Sindhu is joint-16th with Simone Biles with a total earning of $7.1 million. The Indian badminton star was 12th last year with the same earnings of $7.1 million.

In 2018, the two-time Olympic medal winner was part of the top 10 in the 7th sport with a total earning of $8.5 million.

“Although virtually unknown in the U.S., Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist and the 2019 badminton world champion, is a stalwart of the women’s earnings ranking thanks to her marketing prowess in her native India. This year, she added partnerships with Centuary Mattress and American Pistachio Growers” — this is how Forbes introduced her in their list of the highest-paid female athletes in 2023.

The list of the 20 athletes is dominated by tennis players which underlines the sport’s capability to market itself and its athletes. In tennis, both men and women athletes earn equivalent prize money at Grand Slam events.

So it’s no surprise that Iga Swiatek is No. 1 on the list with a total earning of $23.9 million. This is the first time the Polish tennis star has occupied the top rank. She won the French Open this year, clinched the WTA Finals and year-end No. 1 ranking.

Switake is also only the fourth athlete overall to occupy the No. 1 rank since the ranking was introduced in 2008. The other three are Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Naomi Osaka. All four are tennis players.

Nine out of the first 10 in the list of 20 highest-paid female athletes for 2023 are tennis players. Overall there are 11 tennis athletes. Football and golf have two athletes each and badminton, basketball, gymnastics and freestyle skiing have one each.

Sindhu is the fifth Asian on the list with Eileen Gu from China being the highest at 2nd with an earning of $22.1 million.

There’s only one African on the list — Tunisia’s tennis star Ons Jabeur at the 18th spot ($5.7 million).

Forbes’ list of highest-paid women athletes 2023: 

Rank	Athlete	Sport	Country	Earning
1	Iga Swiatek	Tennis	Poland	$23.9 million
2	Eileen Gu	Freestyle skiing	China	$22.1 million
3	Coco Gauff	Tennis	USA	$21.7 million
4	Emma Raducanu	Tennis	UK	$15.2 million
5	Naomi Osaka	Tennis	Japan	$15 million
6	Aryna Sabalenka	Tennis	Belarus	$14.7 million
7	Jessica Pegula	Tennis	USA	$12.5 million
8	Venus Williams	Tennis	USA	$12.2 million
9	Elna Rybakina	Tennis	Kazakhstan	$9.5 million
10	Leylah Fernandez	Tennis	Canada	$8.8 million
11	Nelly Jorda	Golf	USA	$8.2 million
11	Megan Ripinoe	Football	USA	$8.2 million
13	Candace Parker	Basketball	USA	$8.1 million
14	Alex Morgan	Football	USA	$7.8 million
15	Qinwen Zheng	Tennis	China	$7.2 million
16	Simon Biles	Gymnastics	USA	$7.1 million
16	PV Sindhu	Badminton	India	$7.1 million
18	Ons Jabeur	Tennis	Tunisia	$5.7 million
19	Brooke Henderson	Golf	Canada	$5.4 million
20	Markéta Vondroušová	Tennis	Czech Republic	$5.2 million

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