Sports Writing, Jan 14 (EFE) .- Naomi Osaka, Serena and Venus Williams, Simone Biles, Garbiñe Muguruza, Jin Young Ko, PV Sindhu, Ashleigh Barty, Nelly Korda and Candance Parker are the athletes who obtained the highest income in 2021, according to Forbes magazine. Together, these ten world figures from tennis, gymnastics, golf, badminton and basketball pocketed 167 million dollars, according to the specialized business and finance publication. That lump sum exceeded the performance recorded in 2020 by the ten highest-paid athletes by 23%, and set a new record that surpassed the 143.3 million dollars of 2013. The Japanese Naomi Osaka, 24, the fourteenth best tennis player in the world, tops this select list of female athletes by ending last year with income of 57.3 million dollars, although of that amount, 55 million were the product of her multiple endorsement contracts. On the court, Osaka added $2.3 million. The best prize was the conquest last February of the Australian Open, the fourth Grand Slam title in his career. Another tennis player, the Spanish Garbiñe Muguruza, was the fifth athlete who obtained the most dividends in 2021 with 8.8 million dollars, of these 2.8 million for her performance in tournaments. Muguruza, 28, had a remarkable year by becoming the first Iberian to win the WTA Finals in November in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. She finished the season in third place in the WTA rankings and earned $6 million off the field. In 2021, Muguruza added Jaguar and Nivea to its portfolio of brands, joining long-standing supporters such as Adidas and Babolat. Tennis dominated the club of millionaire athletes in 2021 because after Osaka and before Muguruza, the Williams sisters were placed. Serena Williams repeatedly made the bulk of her income, $45 million, from paid advertisers like Nike, Gatorade and DirecTV. On the field, the 40-year-old player received $900,000 for participating in just six tournaments. In total, it closed 2021 with 45.9 million dollars. Osaka and Serena Williams are the only women who appeared in the list of the 50 highest paid athletes in the world. The Japanese was in twelfth place and the American in 28th. Her older sister Venus, according to Forbes, entered 11.3 million dollars, 11 of them derived from advertising and sponsorship contracts. Gymnast Simone Biles was the fourth best on the Forbes list with income of 10.1 million dollars. A detail that is not minor: 10 million dollars entered his account for reasons other than his participation in sports competitions. The other members of the Forbes ranking are the South Korean golfer Jin Young Ko, with 7.5 million dollars in sixth place; Indian badminton player PV Sindhu, with $7.2 million in seventh, and Australian tennis player Ashleigh Barty, $6.9 million in eighth. The ‘Club of the 10 millionaire athletes’ was completed by the American golfer Nelly Korda, with 5.9 million dollars in ninth, and the American basketball player Candance Parker, with 5.7 million. EFE rcg/ppc/hbr
