Serena Wiliams’ net worth: How much has the tennis icon earned in prize money and sponsorship?

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Serena Williams wins 2017 Australian Open

The final curtain is about to fall on Serena Williams’ glittering career and over the years she has broken many a record in terms of earnings. So what exactly is Serena Williams’ net worth ahead of her retirement?

The tennis great confirmed earlier in August that she will be “evolving away from tennis” after the US Open and she will go down as one of the all-time sporting greats as she holds the record for most Grand Slams in the Open Era with 23.

The soon-to-be 41-year-old has broken many other barriers on the court and off the court and paved the way for other women – not only in tennis, but in many other areas of society – to rise to the top.

Leader on the WTA career prize money list

Serena Williams has earned more than double in career prize money than her sister Venus Williams, who sits second in the all-time list for WTA career prize money.

The 23-time Grand Slam winner has earned $94,588,910 since she made her debut in 1995 with Venus on $42,300,728 – that is a comfortable $52m advantage while Simona Halep is another $2m adrift in third place.

1 Serena Williams $94,606,355
2 Venus Williams $42,300,728
3 Simona Halep $40,107,097
4 Maria Sharapova $38,777,962
5 Caroline Wozniacki $35,233,415
6 Victoria Azarenka $34,455,818
7 Petra Kvitova $34,206,006
8 Angelique Kerber $31,886,468
9 Agnieszka Radwanska $27,683,807
10 Svetlana Kuznetsova $25,816,890

 
Williams’ years in terms of pay dates came in 2013 when she won $12,385,572 while in 2015 she added to $10,582,642 to her wealth thanks to prize money. In fact, the American features five times in the top 10 for best seasons in terms of prize money.

1 Serena Williams 2013 $12,385,572
2 Ashleigh Barty 2019 $11,307,587
3 Serena Williams (2) 2015 $10,582,642
4 Angelique Kerber 2016 $10,136,615
5 Serena Williams (3) 2014 $9,317,298
6 Victoria Azarenka 2012 $7,923,920
7 Serena Williams (4) 2016 $7,675,030
8 Simona Halep 2018 $7,409,564
9 Serena Williams (5) 2012 $7,045,975
10 Simona Halep (2) 2019 $6,962,442

Sponsorships and endorsements

Serena Williams started her career as a Puma athlete – who can forget when she turned up at the 2002 French Open dressed in the colours of Cameroon World Cup kit, even wearing long yellow socks? But in 2004 she swapped Puma for Nike in rumoured to be worth close to $55 million and more than two decades later she is still with the American giant.

Little has been said about the deals she signed with Nike since then, but with her stock increasing since her first few years on the WTA Tour, you would think all other contracts were worth more.

The tennis great has been with Wilson since she made her tennis debut and over the years JP Morgan, Intel, Audemars Piguet, Beats, Chase, Subway, Gatorade, Ford Motor Group and Pepsi – to name just a few – have all had sponsorship deals with Williams.

She earned $45m just in sponsorship agreements last year, well above the $69,939 she earned in prize money in 2022.

Serena Williams the businesswoman

Back in 2009, Serena bought a minority stake in the Miami Dolphins NFL franchise alongside her sister while she is also a stake holder – alongside daughter Olympia – in Angel City Football Club, which plays in the National Women’s League.

She has also invested in dozens of startups through Serena Ventures, which Williams founded in 2014. The portfolio includes Zigazoo, Flockjay, Myro, Solofunds, Pachama, Tonal and Chatdesk.

Forbes rich list

Williams is a regular member on the rich list for athletes and in Forbes’ 2022 ranking of the world’s 50 highest-paid athletes list, she came in at No 31 after earning $45.3 million over the past 12 months. Williams and Naomi Osaka (19) are the only two women in the top 50.

Back in 2019 she was the first athlete to make Forbes’ annual list of the World’s Richest Self-Made Women thanks to her $225m.

These days, Forbes puts her net worth at an estimated $260m.

Serena Williams

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