Who is the Next Women's Sports Mega-Star?
Between the NCAA women’s basketball tournament smashing viewership records, the WNBA coming off a landmark season, and a new Golden Age emerging in women’s tennis, female athletes are owning the spotlight like never before.
With global attention shifting to the next generation of stars, Sportsbook Review – the trusted source for the best sports betting sites – set out to answer one big question: Who do fans see as the future face of women’s sports?
🤪 Crazy for Caitlin
Could it have been anyone else? (No. The answer here is no.)
The 23-year-old Indiana Fever mega-star has taken the basketball world by storm, putting up record-setting numbers in her maiden WNBA campaign off the heels of becoming the greatest women's collegiate basketball player of all time. And while Clark's professional career is just getting started, her online presence already rivals some of the world's most recognizable stars.
Clark, the No. 2 favorite in the 2025 WNBA MVP odds at +230, has a staggering 3.1 million followers on her Instagram account, while boasting more than 650,000 followers and 2.3 million likes on TikTok and nearly 500,000 followers on X.
Here's a look at the rest of the most-searched 25-and-under female athletes across the United States based on average monthly keyword searches over the past 12 months:
| Ranking | Athlete | US Searches | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 1 | Caitlin Clark | 2.7 million | T2 |
| 🥈 2 | Angel Reese | 1.2 million | T2 |
| 🥉 3 | Coco Gauff | 673,000 | 1 |
| 4 | Cameron Brink | 550,000 | T10 |
| T5 | Jordan Chiles | 450,000 | -- |
| T5 | Olivia Dunne | 450,000 | T2 |
| T5 | Paige Bueckers | 450,000 | T7 |
| 8 | Sha'Carri Richardson | 368,000 | -- |
| 9 | Hailey Van Lith | 301,000 | -- |
| 10 | Emma Navarro | 201,000 | -- |
🏀 Angel Reese a more-than-worthy No. 2
Magic vs. Bird. Gretzky vs. Lemieux. Federer vs. Nadal.
Sometimes you just know when you're in the early days of what will become a historic rivalry between transcendent superstars. And that's exactly where we are with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, whose much-publicized showdowns in college have set the stage for what will hopefully be a professional tete-a-tete that will sate sports fans into the 2040s.
Reese might not have the statistical pedigree of Clark, but she's miles ahead when it comes to social clout. The 22-year-old Chicago Sky sophomore boasts more than 5.5 million followers on TikTok and another 4.8 million followers on her Instagram account. Add in the nearly 700,000 followers she has on X, and that's approximately 10 million social accounts linked to her.
Expect to see those follower counts rise in 2025 as Reese looks to build upon her promising rookie campaign, where she averaged 13.6 points and 13.1 rebounds.
🎾 Tennis superstar Coco Gauff tumbles to No. 3
Coco Gauff occupied the No. 1 spot for 2024, but the emergence of Clark and Reese as unstoppable forces has knocked her down a couple of spots.
Gauff (+900), the No. 3 favorite in women's singles in our latest French Open odds, enters the spring as the fourth-ranked women's player in the world – and the 21-year-old is even more prolific when it comes to her social footprint.
Gauff has reached nearly two million followers on her Instagram account, along with almost 800,000 followers on TikTok and nearly 365,000 followers on X.
The rest of the top 10
⛹️♀️ You have to wonder if Cameron Brink would be higher on this list had she not been limited by a torn ACL in her left knee that has kept the 23-year-old on the sidelines since last June and cost her a chance to compete at the Paris Olympics. While there's no way of knowing, it's a virtual certainty that her return to action will result in a nice lift across her social and search networks.
🥇 Olympic gold medals are great for your personal brand. Just ask Jordan Chiles, who vaulted (lol) into the top five on this list by virtue of her sensational performance in the team gymnastics competition at the 2024 Summer Games. Chiles might not see a similar bump in non-Olympic years, but the 23-year-old still has plenty of time to dominate the headlines.
🤸♀️ It's been a very long time since Olivia Dunne was known primarily for her gymnast prowess. And can she really only be 22? Dunne remains one of the most accomplished women's athletes in North America in terms of her social profile, and the success of boyfriend Paul Skenes (the reigning National League Rookie of the Year) certainly hasn't tarnished her star power, either.
🏆 Have a year, Paige Bueckers. The 23-year-old UConn star put up some out-of-this-world statistics during the NCAA season, then led the Huskies to a national championship while cementing her status as the no-doubt No. 1 pick ahead of Monday's WNBA draft. Look for her to experience a Clark- and Reese-like social sonic boom in 2025.
💨 The success of the U.S. women's 4 x 100-meter relay team stands as one of the best stories of the Paris Games – and none of the team members benefited more significantly than Sha'Carri Richardson, who has seen her social profile soar. She just turned 25, so her time on this list is limited – but she's more than worthy of the spot.
🏀 Hailey Van Lith might not be on the same level as Bueckers, but you shouldn't sleep on her potential. Widely expected to go in the first round of Monday's WNBA draft, Van Lith won both Newcomer of the Year and Player of the Year in the Big 12 this past season, and won bronze with the national women's 3x3 team at the Paris Olympics last summer.
🎾 Another newcomer to the top 10, Emma Navarro has seen her stock rise as she sits just outside the top 10 in the latest WTA rankings. She'll be looking to build off a career-best quarterfinal showing at the Australian Open in January – and if she fares even better at Roland Garros, you can be sure this won't be her only appearance on this list.
Most searched 25-and-under women's athletes by state*
*We know. It's quite ridiculous.
Methodology
We compiled a list of more than 60 of the most searched American female athletes aged 25 and under, then turned to Semrush's search volume over the past 12 months to get U.S. results. We then collected data on each individual state via Google Analytics.
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* Bonuses not applicable in Ontario.
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