© Sara Quinnett
Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, and Justine Henin have more in common than simply playing tennis.
According to Forbes, these four women are the top earning female athletes in the world.
Maria Sharapova leads the list of the highest earning female sports figures with an endorsement portfolio that includes big names such as Pepsi, Colgate-Palmolive, Nike, Canon and Motorola. Her total earnings are now estimated at $26 million per year.
Before Sharapova became a teenage sensation in 2004, Serena Williams held the distinction of being the richest female athlete. Now, eight years later, she is second behind Sharapova, but still brings home $14 million.
2008 Wimbledon champion Venus Williams is just behind her younger sister Serena with $13 million. Part of her earnings can be attributed to her successful EleVen line, although this could be threatened by Steve & Barry’s recent filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Coming in at fourth place on the top earning list is the newly-retired Justine Henin. Forbes estimates Henin’s yearly worth at $12.5 million—$5 million of which she earned by winning titles in 2007.
Rising star and current world number one Ana Ivanovic made the list at No. 9 with $6.5 million dollars.
Congratulations, Maria!
Good job Maria, you’ll always be No.1 at something. Can’t wait for you to be fully healthy and wrecking everyone at Flushing. Maybe not against an in form Venus or perhaps a new No.1 Jankovic.
But still, let’s make at least the last four this time!
I’ve been waiting for her act on hard thid year. I hope her form on hard-season this year will as good as her earning.
Winning is the best I wanna wish for Maria. And I think she’s got the game to beat Venus on hard surfaces. Maria leads in their head to head record, 3-2. Those 3 wins came from hardcourts while those 2 losses came from grass. So when it comes to hardcourts, she is 3-0 against Venus. I bet Serena is the toughest one for her.
Good luck Maria!
Just shows how vain and image conscious this world is, when Maria earns twice that of Venus Serena and Justine.
Glamour outstripping merit and talent.
What’s wrong with that? Maria is not just a pretty face ya know, at least, she has shown us that she is a talented athlete. If I were to choose someone for an endorsement, definitely, I’ll be looking for someone who has ‘also’ got a star quality!
^.^ yeah..she is pretty. but I want to see her act on tennis court. she’s so tremendous every time she win tournament. I hope she’ll win monteral this year.
come on maria!! ^o^
Heads up!
Maria has switched from Motorola to Sony Ericsson
Same here… hoping that she’ll win!
[...] has the biggest endorsements on the WTA Tour? According to Forbes, Maria [...]