"Have you seen their contracts?": Casper Ruud questions female athlete pay figures

Following the announcement of the world's highest-paid female athletes, Casper Ruud questioned the accuracy of the reported earnings. The former World No. 2 replied to a post on X, asking if anyone had seen his colleagues’ contracts “with your own eyes.”

In a recent Sportico report, it was revealed that six of the seven highest-paid female athletes in the world are tennis players. The list is led by American Coco Gauff, who earned more than $30 million, $21 million of which came from endorsements. She is followed by Iga Swiatek ($21.4 million), Zheng Qinwen ($20.6 million), and Aryna Sabalenka ($17.7 million).

Ruud criticises Sportico for “guessing game” 

A Twitter post from journalist Bastien Fachan shared the ranking and highlighted that Emma Raducanu, with $14 million in endorsements, earned more than Sabalenka ($8 million) and Elena Rybakina ($4 million), despite the Brit finishing the season ranked World No. 57.

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Casper Ruud replied to the post, expressing doubts about the accuracy of the figures: “How do you/they know? Have you seen all of Emma, Aryna and Elena’s contracts with your own eyes?🤔”

Fachan responded with a link to the main Sportico article: "The endorsement earnings estimates were compiled through conversations with those familiar with marketing agreements and also include royalties, memorabilia, appearance fees, media, and businesses tied to their celebrity."

“Fair enough, but even for them (sportico) it’s a guessing game..” said the 3-time Grand Slam runner-up. “There’s no way an agent would ever give access to their players contracts so in reality only the agent & player know the real numbers.. they should write «highest estimated payed athletes» in stead..”

Later, Spanish journalist José Morón addressed Ruud: "According to Forbes, you were the #9 highest-paid tennis player with $10M in off-court endorsements. Could you confirm if this $10M is an estimate or the actual number? This way, we can better understand how to approach these kinds of articles." Ruud, however, left the discussion there and did not respond further.