Coco Gauff surpasses Novak Djokovic as most marketable tennis player in 2024

Apart from Gauff and Novak Djokovic, the prestigious annual list has six other tennis players.

The annual SportsPro’s list of 50 Most Marketable Athletes has Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic as the leading tennis players for the second year in a row. Eight tennis stars feature on the prestigious annual list, now in its 15th edition. Gauff and Djokovic lead in tennis at No. #13 and No. #18, respectively, in a reversal from last year that saw Djokovic at No. #11 and Gauff at No. #12.

The two that follow from the tennis world on the list are Spaniards Carlos Alcaraz (29) and Rafael Nadal (34). Below is the full list of tennis players who made the cut.

Djokovic and Nadal, who represent the old guard, are on a list populated by current-gen stars who are social-media savvy and highly active on various mediums to promote their marketability. Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek, the ATP and WTA No. 1s, have made their Top 50 debuts on SportPro’s list, coming in at No. #47 and No. #50, respectively.

Most marketable tennis players in 2024

• No. 13 – Coco Gauff (USA)
• No. 18 – Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
• No. 29 – Carlos Alcaraz (Spain)
• No. 34 – Rafael Nadal (Spain)
• No. 38 – Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus)
• No. 47 – Jannik Sinner (Italy)
• No. 48 – Naomi Osaka (Japan)
• No. 50 – Iga Swiatek (Poland)

Also Read: (Watch) Novak Djokovic’s mic drop moment when asked about tournament he wishes to win

US gymnast Simone Biles leads the list at No. #1, climbing eight places from 2023. Biles is also the first woman to take the top spot twice, having done so in the 2021 edition as well. She leads Brazilian football star Vinicius Junior and basketball legend LeBron James to round off the top three. Argentine footballer Lionel Messi, who was at the top of the list last year, dropped five places to find himself fifth in the latest edition.

Since the first list was published in 2010, 320 individual athletes have seen their names in the top 50. Football has been the best-represented sport, with 65 players making the list. F1 legend Lewis Hamilton has been featured 14 times, the most by any athlete.

Three tennis players made the top 10 in 2021 – Naomi Osaka, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Novak Djokovic. Osaka was sixth in 2022. Now, for the second year running, there are no tennis players inside the top ten.

The 2024 edition is only the third time that no tennis player is among the top 10. Prior to 2024, the 2023 and 2017 editions of the SportsPro list were marked by an absence of any tennis player in the top 10 bracket.

Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard did the honours in 2015. Japan’s Naomi Osaka earned the accolade in 2019. These were the only two occasions a tennis player made it to the top of SportsPro’s list.

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