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“People are Looking at me Differently”: Naomi Osaka on Becoming the Highest Paid Female Athlete

Published 08/26/2020, 12:38 AM EDT

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The two-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka has stormed into the quarterfinals of the Western and Southern Open 2020. Recently, Forbes published a report on the highest-paid female athletes in 2020, and Naomi Osaka has topped the list to become the highest-paid female athlete for the past year.

The Japanese edged past her arch-rival Serena Williams, who was second on the Forbes highest-paid female athletes list. Osaka has earned a whopping $37.4 million over the past year with $34 million coming from endorsements while $3.4 million came from prize money.

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“It’s a bit weird, because I feel people are looking at me differently now. I mean, I’m weird, right? It’s kind of a fact. So people were always looking at me differently. But now people are kind of looking, looking,” said Osaka on topping Forbes’ highest-paid female athlete list.

The former World No. 1 Naomi has signed lucrative endorsements with some of the biggest brands like Nike, Nissin, Procter & Gamble, and many others. During May this year, Osaka was ranked No. 29 in Forbes annual list of the 100-top earning athletes in the world.

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This was the first time since 2016 that two female athletes found a place on the 100-top earning athletes list. In 2016, Maria Sharapova appeared along with Serena Williams on the list.

Nine WTA players have been featured in the top 10 spots on Forbes’s highest-paid female athlete. The US Open champion Bianca Andreescu is at the fifth spot while reigning Wimbledon champion Simona Halep is at the fourth spot.

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The current World No.1 Ashleigh Barty is in the third-place, raking in $13.1 million in earnings. The 2017 Wimbledon champion, Garbine Muguruza, and World No. 5 Elina Svitolina also feature on the elusive list.

The US 2020 has announced $53.4 million in total compensation with both the and women’s single champion getting the chance to earn $3 million as prize money. The US Open was the first Grand Slam to introduce equal gender pay.

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Kshitij Tayal

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Kshitij Tayal is a tennis author at EssentiallySports. Having played district-level tennis competitions, Kshitij is also a tenured journalist of the sport with over four years of experience. At EssentiallySports, he pens down some thought-provoking pieces on players and tournaments across the ATP and WTA.
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