Serena Williams makes top three as women outnumber men for ‘first time’ in tennis’ highest-paid top 10

Richie Mills 28 Aug 2026 3:30 PM

Pictured: Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, and Serena Williams

Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, and Serena Williams all feature in Forbes' highest-paid tennis player list

Tennis’ top-10 highest-paid players over the past 12 months have been revealed, with more women than men making up the majority of the list for the ‘first time ever’.

According to Forbes, the sport’s biggest earners raked in a combined $333m (£245m) over the last year – 17% up from 2025’s $285m (£210m) and just behind 2020’s $343m (£252.5m) haul.

Even though Jannik Sinner is missing the 2026 US Open and Carlos Alcaraz was injured for the French Open and Wimbledon, the dominant duo still top the pile when it comes to financial supremacy.

And despite being out of tennis for nearly four years, 44-year-old Serena Williams still is in the top three, ahead of the likes of 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic, due to her off-court deals.

World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka and two-time Grand Slam winner Coco Gauff round off the top five, with the latter, in particular, being hugely marketable off the court.

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Incidentally, 23-time major winner Serena reportedly has a net worth of $400m (£295m) – making her the world’s richest woman who made her fortune primarily as an athlete.

She has been sponsored by Nike for 23 years and has partnerships with Heineken, Factor, and Ro, as well as becoming the face of latter’s campaign around GLP-1 weight loss medications.

As a result, she tops the list for off-court earnings at $40m (£29.5m), with Alcaraz second on $38m (£28m), and Sinner third on $35m (£26m). In this category, Djokovic is behind those three and Gauff as well.

On the flip side, Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina and French Open winner Alexander Zverev are more modest off-court earners at $6m (£4.4m) and $5m (£3.7m) respectively.

Another player who relies heavily on off-court endorsements is Chinese star Qinwen Zheng. Despite dropping outside the world’s top 100 since having surgery on her elbow just over a year ago, she rakes in the cash through partnerships with Alipay, tea chain Chagee, and dairy producer Yili Group.

Former top 10er and four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka does not feature and although Alex Eala is arguably the hottest property in tennis right now, the Filipina still has a way to go to crack this rich list.

The 21-year-old is fast approaching $2m for on-court winnings this year but for now, she will have to bide her time. Below is a full breakdown of the top 10.