Russian tennis ace Maria Sharapova highest earning female sports star on $25 million...despite not winning Grand Slam for 3 years

August 04, 2011

She may not be winning on the court, but off it, tennis star Maria Sharapova is raking it in as the world's highest earning female sports star.

The Russian tennis beauty - who has not won a Grand Slam since 2008 - has come top of the latest Forbes rankings for the seventh year in a row.

Earning a staggering $25 million last year, Sharapova has soundly beat her second place rival - and current world number one - Caroline Wozniacki on $12.5 million.

Surprisingly, seven of the top nine female earners were tennis players.

One of the rare, non racket carrying millionaires was American racing driver Danica Patrick, who ended up third on $12 million.

Sharapova, who has won three Grand Slam titles in her career, came came close to winning the Wimbledon title earlier this year.

Her dreams were however shattered by Petra Kvitova in the final in what proved to be a one-sided affair.

The 6ft 2ins Russian, who hadn't lost a set in the previous rounds, struggled to find her form against the determined Kvitova who won in straight sets.

Sharapova, 24, who took the title in 2004 at the tender age of 17, seemed close to tears as she collected her runners-up trophy.

Even so, Sharapova, who has won the US Open and the Australian Open since she won Wimbledon, claimed her fortnight had been profitably spent in spite of this failure.

‘This is a big step because my game is improving, and it's a big step because it gives me a tremendous amount of confidence going forward,’ she said.

‘I'm determined to win more major championships. It didn't happen today; maybe, it will tomorrow.’

The two American tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams came fourth and sixth respectively.

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