Naomi Osaka highest-paid female athlete ever says Forbes

Tennis star Naomi Osaka is the highest-paid female athlete ever after earning a huge $37.4 million (£30.2m) last year.

Osaka is the highest-paid woman on a list of the World's 100 Highest-Paid Athletes, but is only 29th overall. The list has been put together by business magazine Forbes.

There is only one other female athlete on the list, Serena Williams. She was last year's highest-paid female athlete.

Osaka's rise to top earner is thanks to winning last year's Australian Open, as well as signing a huge sponsorship deal with sports manufacturer Nike. The company paid her more than $10 million (£8m) last year.

The 22-year-old tennis player made the decision to represent Japan in the Olympics scheduled for this summer, but the event has now been postponed until next year because of coronavirus. However, she still earned more money through deals with several Olympic sponsors.

Male tennis player Rodger Federer tops the overall list for highest-paid sport stars, having earned $106.3 million (£85.9m) over the past 12 months. He didn't win any of last year's Grand Slam tournaments, but has several enormous sponsorship deals with huge companies.

Messi and Ronaldo have moved to 3rd and 2nd on the overall list

Federer overtakes Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, and is the first tennis player to top the list since Forbes first started putting it together 30 years ago.

Although Ronaldo has overtaken long-time rival Messi when it comes to earnings, it's thought that pay cuts for footballers due to coronavirus is the reason neither player has taken top spot this year.

"The coronavirus pandemic triggered salary cuts for soccer stars Messi and Ronaldo, clearing the way for a tennis player to rank as the world's highest-paid athlete for the first time," said Kurt Badenhausen, Senior Editor at Forbes magazine.

PSG forward Neymar came 4th, with basket ball star LeBron James is in 5th place. All together, the 100 highest-paid athletes earned $3.6 billion (£2.9bn) during the past year.