Serena Williams – Net Worth, Endorsements & Earnings
Serena Williams could retire right now and be in the discussion for the greatest women’s tennis player of all time. She continues to play at a high-level, challenging for Grand Slam titles on all the surfaces even after giving birth. A long career and plenty of success has led to a lot of money for the American.
What Is Serena Williams Net Worth? Serena Williams net worth is estimated to be $200 million at this time. She has earned over $92 million up to this point in her career in prize money, which puts her number one all-time in WTA history. The 38-year-old has shown to be very marketable throughout her career on and off the court as well.
Career Prize Money Earnings
Serena Williams has 23 Grand Slam singles titles, and those payouts have helped her evolve into the highest earner in WTA history. She has primarily focused on these big tournaments as she gets older, and it has paid huge dividends. Even when she does not win the title, she has gone deep in so many tournaments throughout her career that she still takes home good money reaching the second week almost every time.
Here is a breakdown of how much Serena Williams have earned through tournament prize money each year during her career.
Year | Prize Money |
---|---|
1998 | $325K |
1999 | $2.61M |
2000 | $1.03M |
2001 | $2.14M |
2002 | $3.94M |
2003 | $2.5M |
2004 | $2.25M |
2005 | $1.08M |
2006 | $132K |
2007 | $2.1M |
2008 | $3.85M |
2009 | $6.55M |
2010 | $4.27M |
2011 | $1.98M |
2012 | $7.05M |
2013 | $12.39M |
2014 | $9.32M |
2015 | $10.58M |
2016 | $7.68M |
2017 | $2.7M |
2018 | $3.77M |
2019 | $4.31M |
These all years on the pro scene adds up to a total of $92.5 million earned through tournament prize money. Which makes her the highest earner of all time in WTA history.
Her playing career has gone on so long that she has seen quite a few changes in prize money. When she won her first Grand Slam title at the 1999 US open, there was only about $7.6 million handed out at the tournament. Compare that to $57 million total in 2019, and it is easy to see how much paychecks have changed.
Another thing that has worked in Serena Williams favor is the fact that there is equal pay now at all the Grand Slam events for men and women. It was something that Serena and her sister Venus Williams fought for on behalf of the other players on tour, and things have evolved nicely since.
Other large paydays include 23 titles at Premier Mandatory and Premier 5 events. These are the highest paying events outside of the Grand Slams, and she is had plenty of success throughout her career when she takes these tournaments seriously. She has not won too many of these tournaments in recent years, as she limits her schedule to prepare for the Grand Slams.
Serena has also shown that she is a quality doubles player, picking up 14 doubles titles a Grand Slam events. The paydays for these tournaments are nothing compared to singles, but it does add to her net worth and prestige a bit.
Endorsements
The remarkable story of Serena Williams has been very marketable since bursting onto the scene in the late 1990s. She grew up in Compton, California with her sister Venus, and two African-American girls succeeding in tennis was a rare sight at that time.
Once wins started to pile up, the endorsements were coming in left and right. She was not only seen as someone who could market to tennis players, but to other athletes and even people in general. One of the true crossover stars since early in her career, she has earned a lot of money thanks for that.
Racquet Sponsors: Wilson has been the racquet sponsor for Serena Williams throughout her professional career. They have allowed her to play with multiple models, and she seems to have virtually a lifetime contract with them at this time. Players are very superstitious about their racquets, so part of the reason she sticks with Wilson might be due to that. You can read more about Serena’s racquet in this post.
Clothing Sponsors: Serena’s first major clothing and shoe sponsor was Puma, and she wore them through the first few years of her career. Since 2004, she has been with Nike. Her deal at the time was worth $40 million, and they have released several special shoes and apparel linked to her name. She is continuously used as one of the faces of the entire brand, making her one of the most valuable athletes for the company.
Other Endorsements
Williams has been just about everywhere with endorsements throughout her career. Her major endorsements at the time include deals with the following brands:
- Gatorade
- Aston Martin
- Beats by Dre
- Delta Airlines
- Pepsi
- IBM
- Chase Bank
- Intel
Her working relationships with companies have even lead to opportunities such as being the Chief Sporting Officer of Aston Martin, and on the Board of Directors at SurveyMonkey.
Fashion has also been a huge passion for Williams throughout her career. Nike is her brand on the court, but she works with numerous designers off the court as well. This has branched into a very important career for her developing her own brand, Aneres.
Other Wealth Contributors
Whether it be working on animated shows doing voice work, or venturing in different ownership opportunities, Williams continues to come up with new ways to add to her wealth. She is a rare crossover star with two books to her name as well. Multiple revenue streams will allow her to make millions and millions each year, even after retirement.
To add to her wealth, she is married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. He is estimated to be worth around $70 million himself, creating a power couple that touches many different fields.
Future Outlook
She might not want to admit it, but the end of her career is coming sooner rather than later. She will turn 39 years old in 2020, and few tennis players have success this late in their career.
Once she stops winning tournaments, it will be a significant hit to her net worth. The good news is that she has enough set up otherwise to continue making great money. At this point, it would be nearly impossible for her not to have plenty of success once her playing days are over. Maybe she will stick with tennis, or she might branch out a bit broader than that.