Serena Williams Takes 10 Hours to Earn the Average Salary

But how do the most skilled sportswomen compare, which are the best-paid sports for women, and how much are they earning each day?

Protectivity has analysed the annual salaries of the richest female sports players in the world and calculated exactly how long it would take them to reach your yearly earnings. With the most successful female sportswoman, Serena Williams earning a whopping £23.7 million each year, this athlete earns an impressive £65,000 every single day.

The top 5 richest sportswomen include:

Serena Williams crowned the world’s richest sportswoman

Serena Williams, arguably the most famous female sports player of the 21st century, takes the crown as the richest woman in sport with a staggering annual salary of £23.7 million. Known for her world-class abilities as a tennis player, Serena began her career over 20 years ago in 1995. Since then, the American athlete has won an impressive 792 matches at Wimbledon. What makes Williams even more impressive is that she continues to win world titles in her sport, showing off a seriously impressive career, with many athletes reaching their optimum playing skills for just a handful of years.

Serena’s success is reflected in her salary at £23.7 million. Broken down, this figure equates to £2,706 every hour and £45 per minute. The tennis champion is miles above other sportswomen, earning over £3 million more each year than the second highest-earning female sports player, Naomi Osaka, who has a yearly salary of £19 million.

With the average UK salary sitting at £29,009, it would take Serena Williams just 10 hours, 44 minutes and 24 seconds to earn this figure, and for the majority of the richest women in sport, a maximum of two days.

Tennis crowned the best-paid sports profession for women

Amongst the top 10 richest female sports players, all are tennis professionals, which highlights the sport as the best-earning skill to pursue for women. With tennis being one of the most popular sports to play and watch across the globe, it is a great opportunity to encourage women into learning the skill. With the UK seeing over 2 million people playing it on a regular basis, the US holding a staggering 17.9 million participating in the sport, and 2019’s Wimbledon men’s singles final seeing 9.6 million people tune in to watch the match, it is great to see the enthusiasm amongst so many people in keeping fit, healthy and happy playing tennis.

Outside of tennis and in the top 15 richest female sports players, football, badminton and golf appear. Football player Alex Morgan ranks 12th, badminton athlete Pusarla V Sindhu sits at 13th and Ariya Jutanugarn at 15th.

The richest women in sport compared to men

Whilst Serena Williams’ salary is immensely impressive, it is clear that female sports players have a long way to go to reach the earnings of the most successful male athletes. Football star, Lionel Messi is crowned as the richest sports player of all time, earning over £100 million each year, which is over four times the amount of Williams. However it is not just football players that are earning more, but tennis professionals too. Novak Djokovic sits as the highest-paid player in tennis earning $50.6 million.

Sean Walsh, Marketing Manager from Protectivity Insurance comments: “It’s great to see the success of women in sport and shine a light on their achievements, particularly in an industry where male professionals are known for earning significantly higher salaries. The popularity of tennis matches really shows in the top 15 richest women in sport list, with both male and female matches being immensely popular with audiences, and thousands of people each summer tuning in to watch Wimbledon.

“Over the next few years, it would be fantastic to see women in other sports rise into the top 15 list of richest women and break the top ten list of tennis players,”