Russian tennis ace Maria Sharapova has reportedly topped the Forbes magazine's list of the world's ten best-paid female athletes with total earnings of 29 million dollars between June 2012 and June this year.
According to The Nation, although tennis stars dominated the Forbes list, however, it has highlighted the yawning earnings gap with their male counterparts in most sports.
The report said that after Sharapova, world number one Serena Williams ( United States) came second on the list with 20.5 million dollars, China's Li Na third with 18.2 million dollars and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus fourth with 15.7 million dollars.
The report further said that Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark came in seventh with 13.6 million dollars, followed by Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in eighth place with 7.4 million dollars and Serbia's Ana Ivanovic in the ninth place with seven million dollars.
Meanwhile, the report added that the fifth, sixth and the tenth position was filled by US Nascar driver Danica Patrick (with 15 million dollars), South Korean figure skater Kim Yuna (with 14 million dollars) and American golfer Paula Creamer (with 5.5 million dollars) respectively, adding that the trio are the only non-tennis stars in the top ten.
According to Forbes, there was an increasing uniformity in terms of pay in tennis, after moves in recent years to put prize money on a more equal footing, adding that endorsements that come on the back of Grand Slam wins such as Sharapova's 2012 French Open title dwarf most players' winnings.
The report further said that Sharapova has earned 23 million dollars in endorsements with sportswear manufacturers Head and Nike after her victory at Roland Garros, earning more than current men's number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia (26.9 million dollars) and Spain's Rafael Nadal (26.4 million dollars) in the general top 100 list.
