Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova was the highest-paid female athlete of the past decade, according to a new ranking published by U.S. magazine Forbes on Thursday.
Twenty-eight-year-old Sharapova ranked 18th of Forbes' list of the 20 highest-paid athletes over the past decade, earning $250 million between 2005 and 2015.
The tennis player, who turned pro in 2001 at the age of 14, earned an estimated $29.5 million in the past year alone, according to Forbes, and has retained the title of the world's highest paid female athlete 11 years in a row. The Russian edition of Forbes ranked her 8th on a list of Russia's 50 richest women in August. She launched a range of sweets under the "Sugarpova" brand in 2012.
The ranking featured athletes whose professional sporting careers were active over the majority of the past 10 years, such as U.S. golfer Tiger Woods, topping the list with an estimated 10-year income of $845 million.
The combined income of the world's 20 richest athletes over the last decade was $7.7 billion, Forbes reported.
Woods made a large portion of his money off advertising deals, Forbes reported. He was followed by American boxer Floyd Mayweather, who earned an estimated $660 million over the past decade.
Kobe Bryant, an American basketball player, ranked third with an estimated fortune of $475 million.
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