Maria Sharapova (click to enlarge)
When the Forbes list of top 100 paid athletes came out a month or so ago, it was obvious Maria Sharapova, Li Na and Serena Williams would be 1, 2 and 3 when the top 10 female athlete list was published. Now it has been, and so officially we can say Masha has topped the women for the 10th straight year, even though her earnings were down nearly $5 million from the previous year. Partially, that’s due to Nike selling Cole Haan and also because Masha missed almost all of the second half of 2013 due to injury. Forbes measured from June 2013 to June 2014 for this 2014 list. Here are the top 10 women.
1 MARIA SHARAPOVA
Sport: Tennis
$24.4 Million (22 endorsements/2.4 prizemoney)
Key sponsors: Nike, Avon, Samsung, Tag Heuer, Evian, Head, Sugarpova, Porsche
Li Na (click to enlarge)
2 LI NA
$23.6 Million (18 endorsements/5.6 prizemoney)
Sport: Tennis
Key sponsors: Nike, Mercedes-Benz, Rolex, Haagen-Dazs
Serena Williams (click to enlarge)
3 SERENA WILLIAMS
Sport: Tennis
$22 million (11 endorsements/11 prizemoney)
Key sponsors: Nike, Wilson, Gatorade, Apple
Kim Yeon-A (click to enlarge)
4 KIM YEON-A
Sport: Figure Skating
$16.3 Million (16 endorsements/0.3 prizemoney)
Key sponsors: SK Telecom, Nike, Samsung, Hyundai, Kookmin Bank, Korean Air
Danica Patrick (click to enlarge)
5 DANICA PATRICK
Sport: Auto Racing
$15 Million (8 endorsements/7 prizemoney & salary)
Key sponsors: GoDaddy, Coca-Cola, Goodyear, Chevrolet
Victoria Azarenka (click to enlarge)
6 VICTORIA AZARENKA
Sport: Tennis
$11.1 Million (7.5 endorsements/3.6 prizemoney)
Key sponsors: Nike, Red Bull, Citizen
Caroline Wozniacki (click to enlarge)
7 CAROLINE WOZNIACKI
Sport: Tennis
$10.8 Million (9.5 endorsements/1.3 prizemoney)
Key sponsors: Adidas, Rolex, Babolat, Turkish Airlines, Oriflame
Agnieszka Radwanska (click to enlarge)
8 AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA
Sport: Tennis
$6.8 Million (3 endorsements/3.8 prizemoney)
Key sponsors: Lexus, Play, Lotto Sport Italia, Cheesecake Factory
Ana Ivanovic (click to enlarge)
9 ANA IVANOVIC
Sport: Tennis
$6.4 Million (5 endorsements/1.4 prizemoney)
Key sponsors: Adidas, Yonex, Samsung
Paula Creamer (click to enlarge)
10 PAULA CREAMER
Sport: Golf
$5.5 Million (4.5 endorsements/1 prizemoney)
Key sponsors: TaylorMade, CDW, Adidas, Ricoh, SAP
Fairways and Forehands 