Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova topped the annual ranking of the world's highest-paid athletes according to Forbes in 2013, this was reported on Monday on the website of the American magazine.

According to Forbes, from June 2012 to June 2013, Sharapova's total income was $29 million, of which she received $6 million as prize money (including prize money for winning tournaments, hospitality payments for participating in commercial events, bonuses), $23 million made payments under sponsorship contracts (long-term sponsorship contracts, participation in advertising).

Sharapova is the heroine of the cover of the August issue of the Russian Forbes and the leader of the list of 50 Russian celebrities . The Russian woman tops the ranking of the highest paid athletes in the world for the ninth year in a row. Her victory at the French Open in 2012, one of four Grand Slam tournaments, significantly increased her sponsorship deals. The amount of prize money that Sharapova has earned throughout her career is already approaching $27 million, which is the third highest result in tennis history, after sisters Serena and Venus Williams.

In second place in the ranking is another tennis player, Serena Williams, with earnings of $20.5 million, including $8.5 million in prize money and $12 million from sponsors. The third place in the ranking was taken by Chinese tennis player Li Na with an income of $18.2 million ($3.2 million in prize money and $15 million in sponsorship payments).

Next in the ranking are Belarusian tennis player Victoria Azarenka (income: $15.7 million), American racing driver Danica Patrick (income: $15 million), South Korean figure skater Kim Young Ah (income: $14 million), Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki (income: $13.6 million), Polish tennis player Agnieszka Radwanska (income: $7.4 million), Serbian tennis player Ana Ivanovic (income: $7 million) and American golfer Paula Creamer (income: $5.5 million).

On average, female athletes still earn much less than men, according to Forbes. In particular, in the United States, for every dollar of income a male athlete earns, only 77 cents of his female counterpart earns. The only exception is in tennis, where the incomes of both sexes are comparable. It is no coincidence that representatives of this sport took 7 positions out of 10 in the new ranking.

Sharapova topped the ranking of the highest paid athletes in the world