Serena's massive on-court earnings have no rival

NEW YORK : Serena Williams lost to Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic at the U.S. Open on Friday night, likely marking the end of arguably the sport's greatest Grand Slam career, but her title as the biggest earner in women's tennis history will remain for years to come.

Since turning professional in 1995, Williams has amassed a mind-boggling $94.6 million in prize money, more than twice the second name on the list, which happens to be her older sister Venus, with $42.3 million.

She will pocket another $188,000 for reaching the third round of the year's final major tournament.

"It's hard to overstate her success," Victor Matheson, a sports economist at College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, said of the 23-time Grand Slam champion.

"There are few other examples of athletes in sport who are so far beyond the number two like that."

Put another way, about 25,000 women have won prize money in the history of the WTA and Serena Williams has earned more than the bottom 80 per cent of those players combined, he said.

"She has far and away the most career earnings among female athletes and is one of the very few female athletes to be solidly in the top-20 money earners among all athletes in a given year.

"It's very unusual in sports to see a female athlete have this sort of financial presence," Matheson said.

While it is difficult to quantify Williams' financial impact on the sport as a whole, her career has coincided with huge growth in the women's game.

In 1995, the WTA handed out $35 million in total prize money, an amount that reached $180 million in 2020, said Bob Dorfman, a sports marketing analyst at San Francisco's Pinnacle Advertising.

There is no doubt that Williams, who along with Venus was introduced to the predominately