Attention, parents with a young daughter who are hoping to raise a sporting great…

Tennis is where the money’s at.

Forbes’ latest highest-paid list deals with female athletes, and it’s Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka who are sitting pretty on this one.

Again, for the parents at the back, get that racquet in your daughter’s hands and you may have the ultimate retirement plan:

Tennis remains the most surefire way for female athletes to make millions of dollars. Witness the WTA Tour’s announcement last week that the year-end WTA Finals event will pay its winner $4.7 million this year. It is the largest payout in the history of men’s or women’s tennis.

Total prize money on the WTA Tour is $179 million in 2019, and the 10 highest-paid female athletes in the world this year are all tennis players (women from golf, soccer and badminton crack the next five).

Female athletes in soccer, basketball and softball earn salaries of pennies on the dollar compared with their male counterparts. The WNBA max salary slot this season is $117,500, compared with $37.4 million in the NBA.

Let’s run through the top five.

1. Serena Williams

Total Earnings: $29,2 million

Prize Money: $4,2 million

Endorsements: $25 million

Williams, 37, plans to play through at least next year but is already planning her next act with a clothing line, S by Serena, and designs to launch jewellery and beauty products lines by the end of 2020. She also has built a venture portfolio worth more than $10 million.

Not at all shabby.

2. Naomi Osaka

Total Earnings: $24,3 million

Prize Money: $8,3 million

Endorsements: $16 million

Nike shocked the tennis world when it announced in April it secured Osaka to an endorsement deal. Most observers thought she would return to Adidas, which had Osaka under contract until her deal expired at the end of 2018.

3. Angelique Kerber

Total Earnings: $11,8 million

Prize Money: $5,3 million

Endorsements: $6,5 million

Kerber won Wimbledon in 2018 and finished the year ranked second in the world, triggering bonuses from her partners. She renewed deals with Adidas, SAP, Generali and NetJets and recently inked a new pact with Procter & Gamble’s Head & Shoulders brand. Other endorsements include Yonex, Porsche, Rolex and Lavazza.

4. Simona Halep

Total Earnings: $10,2 million

Prize Money: $6,2 million

Endorsements: $4 million

Halep had the top prize money in the sport in 2018 and ranks fifth on the all-time list with $33 million. She won Grand Slam titles each of the past two years, triggering lucrative bonuses. The Romanian pro counts Nike, Wilson, Mercedes-Benz and Hublot among her sponsors.

5. Sloane Stephens

Total Earnings: $9,6 million

Prize Money: $4,1 million

Endorsements: $5,5 million

Stephens reached the finals of four events last year and finished the year ranked No. 6 overall. Her Nike pact, which began last year, is one of the biggest in the sport. She showcased a tennis shoe based on the “Aqua” colorway of Nike’s retro Air Jordan VIII this summer.

The first non-tennis player comes in at 12th – Alex Morgan, a US football (soccer) player, who made $5,8 million.

If you want to compare these numbers to the highest-paid footballers of the past year, you can do so here.

[source:forbes]