MUMBAI: US Open champion Naomi Osaka is reportedly set to renew her sponsorship deal with German sportswear giant adidas, which is coming to a close at the end of the year, for an astronomical $8.46 million per year.
The monster deal, reported by UK’s Times, would be the third richest sponsorship deal in women’s tennis and the highest payout adidas has ever handed to a female tennis player.
For some perspective, Osaka’s total off-court earnings currently stand at $1.5 million a year. Other than adidas, her present endorsement deals include Japanese sporting goods manufacturer Yonex, Japanese food company Nissin Foods Group, Japanese watch brand Citizen and Japanese broadcaster WOWOW .
Osaka wears a Nissin patch on her tennis outfits while the Japanese brand famous for its instant noodles also controls the naming rights to the new champion. Osaka is also the face of all tennis coverage for WOWOW through interviews, personal appearances and digital marketing, an honor she shares with Kei Nishikori, the best known Japanese male tennis player.
Her existing sponsors are expected to reward her with bonuses to top it all. It was a victory of sorts in the US Open for Citizen as Osaka was spotted wearing their latest edition watch on the occasion of their 100th anniversary.
If the Times report is proved true, it would mean that only all time great Serena Williams, who the 20-year-old beat in the finals, and tennis diva Maria Sharapova, both with rival Nike, remain ahead of the fast charging Japanese citizen of mixed parentage in the endorsement stakes.
It is the heritage that Osaka boasts – born from a Japanese mother and father who is a US citizen of Haitian origin – which makes for a potential brand endorser with global appeal like none before her.
Osaka’s IMG agent, Stuart Duguid, who told The London Times that he thought her marketing potential would be “through the roof”, is certainly not engaging in hyperbole. The $3.8 million in prize money that the extremely charming young superstar in the making takes home for winning the US Open looks to be just the start of her journey to become the highest paid female athlete in the world with off-court earnings potentially soaring well above $20 million by the time the Tokyo Olympic Games come around in 2020.
And it is Osaka’s father Leonard “San” François’s decision to opt for Japanese citizenship for her and older Mari sister that makes these numbers more than wildly over the top number crunching.
Japan’s highest ranked tennis player’s best ever result is a runners-up at the US Open but he takes home $30 million annually from endorsements, almost all of it coming from japanese brands.
China’s Li Na – a two time Grand Slam winner – was raking in $20 million+ from endorsements before she retired, and even after calling it quits pulls in $10 million today. She, along with retired NBA all star Yao Ming, are China’s two biggest sporting stars.
Closer home we have PV Sindhu. Forbes US, in its listing of the world’s highest-paid female athletes in the past year (ending June 1, 2018), puts India’s badminton queen at seventh with $8 million coming in from endorsements. Her on court earnings? Just $500,000. The Hyderabadi gained her fame and fortune following the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she won a Silver medal for the country, becoming the first Indian female athlete to win an Olympic Silver in badminton (or any sport for that matter).
Now look at Osaka. She can draw from Japanese brands, and her cross-cultural parentage makes her an ideal choice for brands from across the spectrum and across the globe.
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley is already banking on that appeal, calling Osaka’s performance “unbelievable” and forecasting a major boon for the Australian Open, which bills itself as the Grand Slam of the Asia-Pacific.
“For us as the Grand Slam in the Asia-Pacific, to have a player from Japan, the first time ever a player from Japan to win that title in the fashion that she did, is particularly exciting,” Tiley said.
“We all see how the Japanese fans flock to see Kei Nishikori. It’s going to have a significant positive impact on our Open, on our fans.
As they say, “the sky is the limit” for this amazing new talent that has marked her stamp and how onto the global tennis (and sporting) map.
