Caitlin Clark earned some pretty impressive real estate on the latest Time magazine cover.
Time released its Inspiring Women special edition issue Wednesday and featured eight women in positions of leadership, including three athletes.
The top row of a photo collage included Clark and Taylor Swift. Swift was at the center of it, and Clark was next to her.
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The athlete who appears after Clark, on the left side of the second row, is former women’s tennis superstar Serena Williams.
Former women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe appeared in the middle of the third row.
Serena Williams hits to Bianca Andreescu during the 2019 U.S. Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., Sept. 7, 2019. (Robert Deutsch/USA Today Sports)
Clark got higher billing than both Williams and Rapinoe even though Clark, at just 22 years old, has played just one professional season of her sport. But Clark’s surging popularity as a women’s basketball superstar has arguably made her a higher profile figure than anyone else on the cover other than Swift this year.
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A recent YouGov study found Clark is among the most popular basketball players in the world in 2024, ranking among athletes like LeBron James and Stephen Curry, and Clark’s followers include large numbers of men and women. The “Caitlin Clark effect” became universally adopted by media outlets over the last year to describe the impact Clark had on women’s basketball at the college and pro levels.
This year’s WNBA draft, in which the Indiana Fever selected Clark with the first overall pick, averaged 2.45 million viewers, the most in WNBA draft history and the most-watched WNBA telecast since 2000. The top 15 most-watched WNBA games of the regular season all have included Clark. She helped the league draw record TV audiences for games played at the same time as NFL games.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) and Connecticut Sun forward DeWanna Bonner (24) exchange words during the first half in Game 2 of a first-round WNBA basketball playoff series Sept. 25, 2024, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Clark’s popularity has been compared to Swift’s in the music industry, and their fans even had a moment of crossover in recent weeks due to a controversial podcast episode by Clark’s rival, Angel Reese.
Reese hosted a woman named Kayla Nicole, who is a promotional model, media personality, on-air host and entertainment journalist who used to date Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce. Nicole went into personal detail about her romantic relationship with Kelce in the past and its aftermath during the appearance on Reese’s podcast, prompting outrage from Swift’s fans.
Then, a viral resurfacing of a social media post by Clark when she was in college brought a horde of aggressive new fans her way, courtesy of the Swift army.
“Taylor Swift welcome to the good side,” Clark wrote Sept. 24, 2023, in a post on X with the hashtag “Chiefs Kingdom.”
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese in the 2023 NCAA women’s final, and Taylor Swift crying in front of Travis Kelce at the Super Bowl. (Getty Images)
Clark has also drawn praise from Williams, who defended the 22-year-old from women’s basketball fans who have chosen not to embrace Clark.
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“I just love that she tried to stay grounded and that she doesn’t … look at her social [media],” Williams told The Associated Press. “I get it. I don’t either. And I think it’s so important to continue doing what she’s doing.”
Williams also suggested that some of the negativity directed at Clark stemmed from jealousy.
“And no matter what other people do, if people are negative, then it’s because they can’t do what you do … basically,” Williams noted. “And hopefully she’ll continue to do what she’s doing.”
However, Williams also made a comment that raised eyebrows among Clark’s fans.
During a monologue at the ESPYS in July, Williams made a joke about the debate surrounding Clark’s unprecedented popularity in the league.
“Caitlin Clark has had an amazing year and is nominated for three awards. Caitlin, you are the Larry Bird in that you are an amazing player, you have ties to Indiana and White people are really crazy about you.”
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