In 2019 Serena Williams she was the first athlete to be included in the gold list of the 50 highest paid athletes in the world. The record that still holding on proudly the only woman still on the list – as the last rating compiled Forbes – and which leaves no one indifferent, especially regarding the economic gap with male professionalism, which is also condemned by the Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek. With an annual income of $45.3 million and career prize money of around $95 million, the champion is ranked 49th on a list that has no place for other super talented and famous athletes, which is a sign that sport is still a purely male world and will be even more so after the retirement of the former number 1.
Excellent female athletes with staggering salaries exist, albeit in fewer numbers than men, think Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu, American gymnast Simone Biles and British tennis player Emma Raducanou, but none of them even come close to the fabulous salaries of Williams and, above all, to their male colleagues. Space, visibility and, shall we say, trust in women is clearly lower than in men, which directly affects sponsors and salaries.. And on this rests the ancient prejudice of insecurity and conflict between career and family. If only women have to take care of themselves, how do they manage to combine sports professionalism? Serena Williams did it, but at what cost? With effort and sometimes even decidedly forbidden physical conditions, she managed to win 73 WTA singles titles, including 23 Grand Slams. Of these, the most recent win was in 2017 when she was pregnant with Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.
Married for six years to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, she has always tried to personally take care of her daughter, including for this reason she defected from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Due to Covid restrictions, the regulations effectively stipulated that athletes were not allowed to bring family members with them, not even a child who was not yet four years old at the time. The measure, which Williams did not like at the time, forced her to choose—even at her championship level—between family and career. “I have never spent 24 hours without her and I think that is already the answer,” she replied to reporters who asked her what she would do. The tennis legend has finally turned down one of his latest sports assignments without regret.
For the same reason, she announced her retirement last August, although she preferred to talk about “evolution”. “A man would not be asked, but I am faced with a choice. If I were Tom Brady, I would continue to play while my wife takes care of expanding the family. It’s a taboo subject, I have a hard time admitting it.” The desire for a second pregnancy presented her with an important but inevitable choice: to quit tennis and devote herself to new projects, including a second child. focused on my career throughout my life, that since I started a family and got married, I realized that there is much more to life, ”she admitted a few days ago. People, after attending an exclusive Met Gala evening. “And that’s great,” concluded the champion, holding her stomach and with a joy in her eyes that is worth another gold.
Source: Elle