Coco strikes it rich!

AMERICAN sports media company Sportico released its annual list of top earners in sport during the week, with Coco Gauff topping the list for women with $22.7 million.

Gauff earned $6.7 million on court, including $3 million for winning her first Grand Slam title at the US Open and $16 million in endorsement earnings from contracts with New Balance and Head and deals with Barilla pasta, Bose, UPS and Rolex.

Nine WTA Tour players were on the list, with seven in the top 10.

Pole Iga Swiatek finished with a total of $21.9 million earned, nearly $10 million of which came in her on-court earnings, and through deals with Infosys, Visa, Polish insurer PZU, Rolex and Porsche Poland.

An obscure skier named Eileen Gu ranked third on $20 million.

Amazingly Emma Raducanu and Naomi Osaka were in the list having not played virtually at all in 2023, with Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula ranked fourth through eighth.

Raducanu’s $16.2 million and Osaka’s $15 million came as a result of strong endorsement deals.

And some still argue women’s tennis is broke or suffering in poverty?

$84 million in earnings from this top ten graphic shows a very different story.

GAUFF, now the darling of US women’s tennis, was also named third most intriguing person in People magazines ‘Most Intriguing People of the Year awards, whatever that means, but it’s woke America, and was also named in the equally woke New York Times’ most stylish people in 2023 list, along with Frances Tiafoe.

SAD to hear Chris Evert has withdrawn from the broadcast booth at the AO, I informing everyone her ovarian cancer has returned.

“While this is a diagnosis I never wanted to hear, I once again feel fortunate that it was caught early,” Evert said in a statement released by ESPN.

“Doctors found cancer cells in the same pelvic region. All cells were removed, and I have begun another round of chemotherapy.”

Evert, 68, was first diagnosed with cancer two years ago. She completed chemotherapy in May of 2022 and was confident the disease would not return.

NAOMI Osaka was courtside at a LA Lakers game last weekend with Aussie Nick Kyrgios, before resuming her preparations for her return to tennis next month at the Australian Open.

Osaka, now 26, dressed in black – including a black pair of sunglasses as Aussie Kyrgios turned up wearing a pair of Lakers shorts and a baggy hoodie.

Osaka sat courtside for the game against the Houston Rockets as LeBron James and his team recorded a 107-97 win.

TENNIS Australia chief executive is not surprised about reports of the formation of a Super League tennis tour, as reported here on Sunday Serve last weekend.

“The premium tour for the future of the sport has been on the table for quite a few years, and getting the sport motivated and activated to look at it more openly is something that is continuing to happen, which is exciting,” Tiley said.

“I think there’s a lot of work that’s got to be done, [and] a lot of parties have got to come together, but there is a big opportunity for the sport of tennis to deliver a product in a more co-ordinated, premium way.

“There have been attempts to do it for years, but the grand slams have done extremely well in this [premium] environment and continue to do well, and they are the times in the year when the players mobilise because this is where they want to make their most money, but also get their biggest profile globally.”

WILL he won’t he? That was the story as Nick Kyrgios’s name was missing from the Australian Open entry list on Wednesday, fuelling rumours he may well not play Melbourne in six weeks time.

By yesterday, it was confirmed that Kyrgios, 28, will miss a second Melbourne event after failing to overcome a wrist injury.

“Obviously had a really tough year with injury, had that knee surgery and came back a little bit too soon and set me back a little bit, then obviously had some wrist issues,” Kyrgios said.

“So this is a very disappointing time for me, but I won’t be able to compete at the 2024 Australian Open.”

AND, will she won’t she…

Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu has announced she will make her comeback from injury at the ASB Classic in Auckland next month as she tries to earn a spot at the Australian Open, where she will have to go through the qualifiers to make the main draw.

She can currently use a protected ranking of 103 to enter tournaments because of injury, but that is not high enough to earn her a place in the main draw in Melbourne.

ONE player who will be there is former champion Caroline Wozniacki.

The Dane, who has not played Melbourne for four years, has received a wildcard in the main draw.

“Melbourne’s one of my most favourite cities in the world, and I can’t wait to share it with my family and my kids,” Wozniacki told media last week.

ON the move again … The Davis Cup could move location to Milan, says Italian Tennis Federation CEO Angelo Binaghi.

“We are ready to compete to bring the Davis Cup Finals to Milan from 2025, as soon as the ITF opens a tender,” Binaghi said last week after Italy won the event in Malaga.

“We are convinced that we have what it takes to put in place a competitive proposal.”

DEBBIE Jevans took to the London Standard newspaper during the week to push for the Wimbledon expansion plans to be approved.

Debbie who? Well the much travelled Ms Jevans, who has been described by many as serial board member with so many sporting portfolios, is the new chair of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Board.

Jevans, who is a former player, used her opinion piece to argue Londoners would suffer if the expansion plan was blocked.

“It is more than a century since tennis was first played on Centre Court and since then Wimbledon has grown to be at the pinnacle of world sport,” she wrote.

“However, we can’t rest on our laurels, as in that time other events have evolved too. We are now the only Grand Slam that doesn’t host its qualifying competition on the same site as its main tournament.

“Currently our qualifying competition takes place on what is ordinarily a cricket outfield at a rented site in Roehampton. This is understandably viewed by the world’s best players as a significant weakness.”

Jevans went to argue the economic benefits of Wimbledon’s grand plan, including creating over 250 job during the construction.

OUR OMG moment….

Serena Williams took to TikTok during the week to confess she has been using her breast milk to cure a retinol-induced sunburn on her under eyes.

Williams said she was going to trial the breast milk treatment out for a week, patting it on her under eyes with a cotton pad.

The idea of breast milk being a treatment for this sort of ailment has been seen as an ‘old wives’ tale’, but apparently there’s been some scientific research that has shown it helps with atopic eczema.

“It already feels better,” Williams added after a week’s treatment.”