Naomi Osaka is making grand slams on the court — and financially too. Osaka earned a record $55.2 million in total earnings in the last 12 months, more than any female athlete in history. Osaka catapulted into the global spotlight in 2018 with her memorable U.S. Open win over Serena Williams and backed it up four months later with a second grand slam in Australia — the first singles majors ever for a Japanese player. Her last 12 months have constituted one of the most memorable years ever by an athlete— male or female — across any sport.
Only just over $5 million of her earnings comes from prize money won on the court, Sportico reports. The rest is constituted of several lucrative deals, including her role as a global ambassador for high fashion brand Louis Vuitton, her partnership with Nike — for which she reportedly makes $10 million per year — a contract with Beats, work with clothing company Levi’s, her more current deal with food brand Sweetgreen — the food spot also revealed Osaka as its first athlete ambassador (she is also an investor in the company). Osaka lands at No. 15 in Sportico’s ranking of the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes.
Lately, Osaka has been using her platform to create conversations around social justice issues. She is raising awareness around police shootings with her actions and recently hosted events in Cincinnati and then wore masks in New York highlighting the names of Black victims of police shootings. Her multi-nationality — born to a Japanese mother and Haitian-American father — has been a driving factor in companies flocking to Osaka, with a half-dozen sponsors based in Japan. The Tokyo Olympics, originally scheduled for 2020 and now set to kick off July 23, 2021, added another layer to her marketing appeal. ANA, Google, and Nissin are both Osaka partners and official Olympic supporters.
The 23-year-old is topped only by male athletes Tiger Woods, LeBron James, and Roger Federer. Osaka’s tally matches global soccer icon Cristiano Ronaldo, who counts 289 million Instagram followers. Conor McGregor headed Sportico’s athletes ranking, but the bulk of his $208 million in earnings was through the sale of his whiskey brand, Proper No. Twelve, and not traditional endorsements. Osaka is a budding entrepreneur, joining Los Angeles-based Frankies Bikinis to launch her first swimwear collection, which debuted this month, and just launched a skincare line, Kinlò, with an emphasis on skin protection for people of color.
