Sports
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are two of the greatest names in ladies folk’s sports.
The faculty rivals joined the WNBA as the primary and seventh picks on this year’s Draft.
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But despite bringing in mountainous viewing figures, Clark earned suitable $76,535 in salary for her rookie season and Reese purchased $73,439.
By comparison, Zaccharie Risacher scored a four-year, $57million contract after going first overall in the NBA Draft.
Clark and Reese may also be casting inexperienced with envy glances at the field of pickleball, where Anna Leigh Waters earns more than her male peers.
The 17-year-ragged’s agent advised Forbes that her client will earn a staggering sum in 2024.
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“She is going to earn more than $3 million this year,” confirmed Kelly Wolf “She has become the face of pickleball and both the PPA Tour [Professional Pickleball Association] and MLP [Major League Pickleball] know that.”
Clark and Reese both earn far more in endorsements than they achieve for their hard work on the court docket, the worn netted $11million in 2024.
Waters has already lined up sponsorship deals with FILA, Paddletek, Lock Laces, Cetaphil, Biofreeze, Collectbobbles, and Shiseido among others.
Those tie-ins take her earnings past $10million, according to the teen, who went professional at 12 to change into her sport’s youngest ever star.
“I’m younger, I’m quiet living with my parents, however I make over seven figures a year,” Waters said.
“When I first started playing pickleball, you may promenade to a local tournament and play on these taped courts that have been on tennis courts, or maybe even indoor on a basketball court docket and it was suitable roughly this fun factor that of us would achieve.
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“And then when COVID happened, that’s when I noticed that pickleball really grew and it was because a lot of families have been going out to parks or even constructing courts in their driveways and it was one thing they may achieve collectively and have fun.
“And then after COVID hit, the tournaments got way bigger. We were playing at bigger facilities, more national and worldwide sponsors were getting into the sport.”
Waters, who turns 18 in January, is No. 1 in the world in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.
The sport’s top-ranked man, Ben Johns, told CNBC in May that his combined earnings from salary and endorsements wouldn’t top $2.5million this year.
“There’s nobody else out there that has all these deals that she has right now,” Wolf added. “Anna Leigh is her own little cottage industry, to be quite honest.”
Leigh Waters – Anna Leigh’s mom and doubles partner – played Division I tennis at the University of South Carolina.
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Her then-11-year-ragged daughter stepped in when Leigh’s doubles partner dropped out of a tournament in Dallas six years ago – the relaxation is history.
“So my mom asked me to like in and we played and purchased silver in the professional tournament, and my mom was care for, “Adequate, I utter you’re ready to play professional with me,’” Anna Leigh said. “So that’s roughly how my professional lag started.
“I was home-schooled since third grade so I’ve roughly been passe to the sports and college variety of factor.
“But I also revel in doing things start air of pickleball, care for I care for to cook dinner, bake, hang out with my chums.
“But I think because I’ve been used to it, it’s just kind of a normal thing for me and anything else would be different.”
