Naomi Osaka Breaches $10 Million Milestone

Naomi Osaka triumphed at the Australian Open sent her straight to the top of the WTA prize money rankings at the end of January.

The 21-year-old Japanese, who has now won back-to-back grand slam titles, tops the list on $3,104, 114, her win over Petra Kvitova also taking her through the $10 million mark in career prize money.

Osaka had finished her breakthrough 2018 season, during which she defeated 23-time grand slam singles winner Serena Williams for her first major title at the U.S. Open, as the lead money maker on the women’s Tour with $6.4 million in prize money.

A superstar in Japan, where more than 22 million television viewers tuned in to watch the Australian Open finals, Osaka is expected to earn much more off the court. Last year, FORBES estimated she may make as much as $15 million in endorsements  a year, which would make her one of the world’s top-paid female athletes.

Czech Kvitova, who reached her first grand slam final since 2014, is second, with $1,679,805, with the two beaten semi-finalists, Karolina Pliskova and Danielle Collins, third and fourth.

Collins had never won a match at the Australian Open before this year and the former US college player more than doubled her career earnings.

Serena Williams is down in 10th place with $342,246, having been beaten by Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals in Melbourne, leaving her still chasing what would be a record-tying 24th grand slam title.

According to the WTA list, Osaka has accrued $3.1 million in January alone and is sitting pretty at the top. Petra Kvitova is second on $1.6 million, followed by Pliskova on $873 thousand. Completing the top 10 are Danielle Collins, Ashleigh Barty, the aforementioned Zhang Shuai, Sam Stosur, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Elina Svitolina and finally Serena Williams. Williams has only earned $342,000 in the month of January.