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Cheer up, Maria: think about the Benjamins. Stephen Pond/EMPICS Sport
Cash Money

Who are the world's highest-paid female athletes?

Forbes magazine has put together its annual ranking of sport’s top female earners. Use our nifty slideshow to get up to speed with the high rollers.

WE’RE USED TO hearing about the astronomical salaries and bonuses paid to male athletes, but women’s sport, too, can be a question of millions.

Forbes magazine’s Kurt Badenhausen has put together a list of the athletic world’s top earners and, while the figures are fairly mind-blowing, most of the income on the list is derived from sponsorship rather than money actually earned on the field of competition.

The Kournikova Effect, then, is alive and well.

Not only that, but the list is dominated by one sport, with tennis players occupying seven of the ranking’s ten berths.

Who ranks where, though? Click through to find out.

Who are the world's highest-paid female athletes?
1 / 10
  • 10. Paula Creamer-- $5.5m

    Source: Lynne Cameron/PA Wire/Press Association Images
  • 9. Ana Ivanovic-- $6m

    Source: Stephen Wake/AP/Press Association Images
  • 8. Li Na-- $8m

    Source: Christophe Ena/AP/Press Association Images
  • 7. Kim Yu-Na-- $10m

    Source: Antonio Calanni/AP/Press Association Images
  • 6. Serena Williams-- $10.5m

    Source: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP/Press Association Images
  • 5. Kim Clijsters-- $11m

    Source: Peter Dejong/AP/Press Association Images
  • 4. Venus Williams-- $11.5

    Source: Sean Dempsey/PA Wire/Press Association Images
  • 3. Danica Patrick-- $12m

    Source: Seth Wenig/AP/Press Association Images
  • 2. Caroline Wozniacki-- $12.5

    Source: Randi Sokoloff/AP/Press Association Images
  • 1. Maria Sharapova-- $25m

    Source: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP/Press Association Images