The global female athlete earnings list has been released, with Zheng Qinwen still ranking in the top five, while Ivanovic files for divorce.

In just three minutes daily, stay updated on all things tennis worldwide. Hello tennis fans, today is Thursday, December 4, 2025. Welcome to the news midday report brought to you by "Tennis Home."

Yesterday Beijing time, the renowned sports finance media Sportico released the 2025 global female athlete earnings ranking. American star Gauff tops the list with $31 million (8 million in prize money + 23 million off-court). Two Chinese athletes made the top 10: freestyle skier Eileen Gu ranks fourth with $23 million entirely from endorsements; tennis star Zheng Qinwen is fifth with $20.6 million (1.6 million prize money + 19 million off-court). Notably, tennis players occupy 10 of the top 15 spots on this list. Besides Gauff, Sabalenka is second with $30 million (15 million prize money + 15 million off-court), and Swiatek is third with $23.1 million (10.1 million prize money + 13 million off-court). Keys, Rybakina, and Naomi Osaka also rank in the top 10. See the attached image for detailed earnings amounts.

For Zheng Qinwen, she withdrew from many tournaments this year due to injury, causing her prize money to drop significantly compared to last year, but her endorsement income soared to $19 million, second only to Gauff’s $23 million. Therefore, Zheng’s ranking dropped by only one place compared to last year and she remains firmly in the top five.

Let’s now focus on British legend Henman. Recently, Henman stated in an interview that he still hopes the ATP will add a grass-court Masters event. Currently, the ATP tour has six hard-court Masters and three clay-court Masters, but no Masters on grass. This has been debated in tennis circles for a long time without change. Henman said, "I really want to see such a tournament. If all other surfaces have Masters events, why shouldn’t grass courts have one? I will fully support holding a Masters on grass."

Next, let’s turn to former world No.1 and Serbian player Ivanovic. Recently, Ivanovic filed for divorce at the Munich District Court in Germany, seeking to end her 9-year marriage with Schweinsteiger. The reason is Schweinsteiger was reported to have had an extramarital affair with a Bulgarian woman starting summer 2024. Foreign media reported that Ivanovic once expressed willingness to forgive Schweinsteiger but ultimately couldn’t overcome the psychological barrier and decided to proceed with the divorce.

Another news item: Kazakh player Bublik recently made remarks claiming that doubles players should not be considered real tennis players, which drew widespread criticism. Among them, Russian star Kudermetova responded sharply to Bublik, saying, "I think if he partnered with someone in doubles and achieved good results, he wouldn’t say such things. Please, use your brain. I have no other thoughts on this because I find his comments a bit foolish." Compared to Bublik, Kudermetova’s doubles record is outstanding; this season she won the women’s doubles titles at Wimbledon and the WTA Finals.

Additionally, in the WTA 125K Angers event’s first-round singles match, 6th seed and veteran Chinese player Zhang Shuai defeated Bacsinszky 7-6(3), 6-3, extending her singles winning streak to six matches. In the second round, she will face Barthel. Go Zhang Shuai!

Finally, let’s play a guessing game. The photo below shows a player on vacation. Without any hints, can you identify who she is?

No one guessed correctly in the last guessing game. Actually, the person in the picture was Swiss star Belinda Bencic.

(Source: Tennis Home Author: Independent Spirit)