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
2 LI NA
$23.6 Million (18 endorsements/5.6 prizemoney)
Sport: Tennis
Key sponsors: Nike, Mercedes-Benz, Rolex, Haagen-Dazs
3 SERENA WILLIAMS
Sport: Tennis
$22 million (11 endorsements/11 prizemoney)
Key sponsors: Nike, Wilson, Gatorade, Apple
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
5 DANICA PATRICK
Sport: Auto Racing
$15 Million (8 endorsements/7 prizemoney & salary)
Key sponsors: GoDaddy, Coca-Cola, Goodyear, Chevrolet
6 VICTORIA AZARENKA
Sport: Tennis
$11.1 Million (7.5 endorsements/3.6 prizemoney)
Key sponsors: Nike, Red Bull, Citizen
7 CAROLINE WOZNIACKI
Sport: Tennis
$10.8 Million (9.5 endorsements/1.3 prizemoney)
Key sponsors: Adidas, Rolex, Babolat, Turkish Airlines, Oriflame
8 AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA
Sport: Tennis
$6.8 Million (3 endorsements/3.8 prizemoney)
Key sponsors: Lexus, Play, Lotto Sport Italia, Cheesecake Factory
9 ANA IVANOVIC
Sport: Tennis
$6.4 Million (5 endorsements/1.4 prizemoney)
Key sponsors: Adidas, Yonex, Samsung
10 PAULA CREAMER
Sport: Golf
$5.5 Million (4.5 endorsements/1 prizemoney)
Key sponsors: TaylorMade, CDW, Adidas, Ricoh, SAP