Naomi Osaka is a Japanese American professional tennis player who has a net worth of $25 million. After bursting on the scene in 2018, within two short years Naomi rocketed to being the highest-paid female athletes in the world. She achieved that feat after earning approximately $40 million between June 2019 and June 2020. She out-earned the previous long-standing highest-paid female athlete, Serena Williams, by $5 million.
Born in Japan to a Haitian father and a Japanese mother, Osaka has lived and trained in the United States since she was three years old. She came to prominence at the age of sixteen when she defeated former US Open champion Samantha Stosur in her WTA Tour debut at the 2014 Stanford Classic. Two years later, she reached her first WTA final at the 2016 Pan Pacific Open in Japan to enter the top 50 of the WTA rankings. Osaka made her breakthrough into the upper echelon of women’s tennis in 2018 when she won her first WTA title at the Indian Wells Open. Later in the year, she defeated 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams in the final of the US Open to become the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam singles title. From 2018 through 2020, she won a Grand Slam singles title in three consecutive years.
Osaka is one of the most marketable athletes in the world, having been ranked eighth among all athletes in endorsement income in 2020. She was also the highest-earning female athlete of all time by annual income that year. Osaka has gained significant recognition as an activist, having showcased support for the Black Lives Matter movement in conjunction with her matches. She was named one of the 2020 Sports Illustrated Sportspersons of the Year for her activism largely as part of her US Open championship run and was also included on Time‘s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in both 2019 and 2020. On the court, Osaka has an aggressive playing style with a powerful serve that can reach 201 kilometres per hour (125 mph).
