--- title: Serena Williams Is (Finally) the Highest-Paid Woman Athlete description: 'Serena Williams'' earnings of $28.9 million make her the highest-paid female athlete today. Maria Sharapova fell to #2 after testing positive for a banned substance.' authors: - name: Martha C. White role: Writer url: https://money.com/author/martha-c-white/ education: BA, English, Princeton University at_money_since: 2015 articles: 350 covers: - Business - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology published: '2016-06-08T14:29:29.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T02:12:52.000Z' section: Business tags: - forbes rankings - Maria Sharapova - Maria Sharapova tennis - pubdesk - serena williams - Serena Williams Tennis word_count: 315 canonical: https://money.com/serena-williams-maria-sharapova-highest-paid-woman-athlete/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Serena Williams of the U.S. shouts as she plays Spain's Garbine Muguruza during their final match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, Saturday, June 4, 2016 in Paris.](https://img.money.com/2016/06/ap_878299741119.jpg?crop=0px%2C141px%2C4656px%2C2619px&quality=85) *Serena Williams of the U.S. shouts as she plays Spain's Garbine Muguruza during their final match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, Saturday, June 4, 2016 in Paris.* She lost this year's Grand Slam to Garbine Muguruza, but Serena Williams just beat Maria Sharapova — not on the tennis court, but in the wallet: [*Forbes*](http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2016/06/06/serena-tops-sharapova-as-the-worlds-highest-paid-female-athlete) magazine said that Williams' annual earnings of just under $29 million make her the highest-paid female athlete in the world, ending Sharapova's 11-year run in the top spot on the *Forbes* list. *Forbes* said she earned $28.9 million over the past 12 months, and a total of $77.6 million in prize money over the course of her career. Williams has won [36 major titles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serena_Williams), including 21 Grand Slam singles titles, and is considered by many as the greatest female athlete of all time. On top of that, the tennis star is marketing gold; right now, she trails only LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers in consumer perception of current sports stars, *Forbes* said. Over the years, she has collected sponsorships and endorsements from a diverse array of companies including Nike, Pepsi and JPMorgan Chase, and *Forbes* put her income from these activities at around $20 million. Sharapova, who had sponsors pull back after she tested positive for a banned substance, fell into the #2 spot on the *Forbes* list with annual earnings of $21.9 million. On Wednesday Sharapova was banned from playing professional tennis for 2 years [over the doping charges](https://money.com/maria-sharapova-endorsements-doping/). ***Read More:** [Here’s How Poorly Female Soccer Players Are Paid Compared to Men](https://money.com/us-womens-soccer-equal-pay/)* Female athletes in most sports trail their male counterparts when it comes to compensation, but men and women competing in the top professional tournaments are paid the same. The issue of equal pay generated some [controversy](https://money.com/equal-pay-tennis-djokovic-williams/) earlier this year when BNP Paribas Open CEO Raymond Moore accused female players of "rid\[ing\] on the coat tails of the men," a remark that drew a swift rebuke from Williams and others in the pro tennis community, and led Moore to [step down](http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/22/tournament-chief-moore-resigns-over-controversial-comments.html) from his tournament position. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/serena-williams-maria-sharapova-highest-paid-woman-athlete/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Business", "item": "https://money.com/business/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Marketing", "item": "https://money.com/marketing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Serena Williams Is (Finally) the Highest-Paid Woman Athlete" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/serena-williams-maria-sharapova-highest-paid-woman-athlete/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/serena-williams-maria-sharapova-highest-paid-woman-athlete/", "name": "Serena Williams Is (Finally) the Highest-Paid Woman Athlete", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-06-08T14:29:29.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/serena-williams-maria-sharapova-highest-paid-woman-athlete/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/serena-williams-maria-sharapova-highest-paid-woman-athlete/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T02:12:52.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Serena Williams Is (Finally) the Highest-Paid Woman Athlete", "articleSection": "Business", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/06/ap_878299741119.jpg?crop=0px%2C141px%2C4656px%2C2619px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "160608_EM_SharapovaWilliams" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Martha C. 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