Two days after her stunning loss to Spain’s Garbine Muguruza in the French Open final, Serena Williams of the US scored a different win on Monday, when Forbes magazine reported she has overtaken Maria Sharapova as the world’s highest-paid female athlete.
Williams earned US$28.9 million over the past year, the financial magazine reported in an article posted on its Web site.
Russian tennis star Sharapova had held the title over the past 11 years.
Williams, 34, has dominated her sport for more than a decade. She won her second Grand Slam in 2002 before going on to win 19 more since then.
After falling at Roland Garros on Saturday last week, Williams vowed to continue trying to equal German Steffi Graf’s Open-era record of 22 Grand Slam titles.
Williams’s career prize money of US$77.6 million amounts to more than twice as much as any other female athlete.
However, Sharapova dominated in endorsement profits before companies including Nike, American Express, Porsche and TAG Heuer distanced themselves after she tested positive for the recently banned performance-enhancing drug meldonium earlier this year.
Sharapova earned US$21.9 million over the past year, down almost US$8 million from the previous year, Forbes said.
US mixed martial arts star and actress Ronda Rousey was third on the list with US$14 million over the past year, just ahead of NASCAR stock car driver Danica Patrick, who earned US$13.9 million.
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Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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