Russian-born Maria Sharapova began her professional career in 2001. She has won 23 singles titles — including five Grand Slam titles — and three doubles titles. Sharapova won a silver medal for women’s singles at the 2012 London Olympics. Sharapova was just one of two female athletes to make the 2016 Forbes’ World’s Highest-Paid Athletes list. Ranked No. 88 on that list, she earned $21.9 million that year, $20 million of which was from endorsements. She has won approximately $36.5 million in prize money to date, making her one of the highest-paid tennis players.

In March 2016, Sharapova announced that she had tested positive for the drug meldonium. The International Tennis Federation suspended Sharapova from the sport for two years due to the failed drug test. While the suspension was later reduced to 15 months, Sharapova missed the 2016 Rio Olympic games. Sharapova lost sponsor Tag Heuer after the announcement. Other sponsors that include Nike and Porsche suspended promotional plans with the player, though they did not terminate their contracts. Amid this drama, Forbes reported in 2018 that her net worth could still be as high as $195 million, she is the richest female athlete.

Net assets: $195 million

Serena Williams is a dominating force in the sport of tennis. She is currently ranked No. 16 in the world after taking a 14-month hiatus to marry Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, and give birth to their daughter. Williams was defeated at the 2018 U.S. Open by Naomi Osaka, who is in talks to sign the largest-ever Adidas deal for a woman athlete.

Williams started her professional career in 1995 and has since won a staggering 39 Grand Slam titles. Like her sister, Venus, she is a decorated Olympian with a total of four gold medals. Williams is the highest-paid female athlete on Forbes’ World’s Highest-Paid Athletes 2018 list. Williams has earned $18 million in the 12 months ending June 1, 2018 from endorsements alone. She counts Beats by Dre, Gatorade, Intel, JPMorgan Chase, Lincoln and Nike among her many sponsors. Serena Williams is the second richest female athlete with a net worth is $180 million.

Net assets: $180 million

Alexis DeJoria is a drag racer competing in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). DeJoria races the Funny Car, a type of race car that can reach speeds over 330 miles per hour. She has four career wins in the NHRA Funny Car Division and is the first female driver to be clocked under 4 seconds in a Funny Car. DeJoria is the daughter of billionaire entrepreneur John Paul DeJoria, who co-founded the Paul Mitchell line of hair products and The Patrón Spirits Company. DeJoria’s Toyota Camry Funny Car is sponsored by Tequila Patrón.

Despite being the billionaire’s daughter, drag racer Alexis Dejoria has gained her own celebrity. The pretty girl with a wealthy father started drag racing in 2005 and won the Sportsman Nationals less than a year later. She is worth $100 million, taking third place on my list of the world’s top richest female athletes.

Net assets: $100 million

Venus Williams is one of the most famous names in the sport of tennis. Williams became a professional tennis player in 1994, one year before her younger sister Serena. Williams has won 49 singles titles and 22 doubles titles. She has also won five Olympic medals, four gold and one silver. In 2016, she and Serena won their sixth Wimbledon doubles title.

Williams has won more than $36 million in prize money throughout her career. She also enjoys a number of endorsement deals, which add to her net worth of $75 million, and is the fourth richest female athlete.

Danica Patrick is an American former professional racing driver, is one of the fifth richest female athletes. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel car racing—her victory in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only win by a woman in an IndyCar Series race.

Patrick began racing stock cars in 2010 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (now Xfinity Series) with her best result coming in the form of a fourth-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2011. She placed a career-high tenth in the 2012 season standings and was the second woman to clinch a pole position in the Nationwide Series after Shawna Robinson in 1994.

Auto racer Danica Patrick started her career as an Indianapolis 500 racer. She is the first woman to lead laps and score a Top 5 finish in the Indianapolis 500, a feat she achieved in 2005. She is also the first woman to win an IndyCar race, the Indy Japan 300 in 2008.

In 2013, Patrick made the move to NASCAR. She drives the No. 10 Aspen Dental Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Patrick has enjoyed a number of different endorsement deals throughout her career. She is famously associated with GoDaddy, and she retired after the 2018 Daytona 500 and Indy 500. Danica Patrick’s net worth is $60 million.

Net assets: $60 million

Anna Kournikova is a Russian former professional tennis player and American television personality. Her appearance and celebrity status made her one of the best known tennis stars worldwide. At the peak of her fame, fans looking for images of Kournikova made her name one of the most common search strings on Google Search.

Despite never winning a singles title, she reached No. 8 in the world in 2000. She achieved greater success playing doubles, where she was at times the world No. 1 player. With Martina Hingis as her partner, she won Grand Slam titles in Australia in 1999 and 2002, and the WTA Championships in 1999 and 2000. They referred to themselves as the "Spice Girls of Tennis".

Kournikova retired from professional tennis in 2003 due to serious back and spinal problems, including a herniated disk. She lives in Miami Beach, Florida, and played in occasional exhibitions and in doubles for the St. Louis Aces of World Team Tennis before the team folded in 2011. She was a new trainer for season 12 of the television show The Biggest Loser, replacing Jillian Michaels, but did not return for season 13. In addition to her tennis and television work, Kournikova serves as a Global Ambassador for Population Services International's "Five & Alive" program, which addresses health crises facing children under the age of five and their families.

Anna Kournikova is no doubt one of the most famous female tennis players of all time. The Russian player enjoyed some success throughout her career, including two Grand Slam doubles wins; however, she never won a Grand Slam singles title. Despite mediocre success on the court, Kournikova enjoyed a number of lucrative endorsements due to her growing celebrity. In 2012, Kournikova appeared as a celebrity trainer on the show “The Biggest Loser.” She continues to model today.

Net assets: $50 million

Li Na is a Chinese former professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high WTA ranking of world No. 2 on 17 February 2014. Over the course of her career, Li won nine WTA Tour singles titles including two Grand Slam singles titles at the 2011 French Open and 2014 Australian Open. Those victories made her the first Grand Slam singles champion from Asia, male or female. She also became the first player representing an Asian country to appear in a Grand Slam singles final, finishing as the runner-up at the 2011 Australian Open. Li was also the runner-up at the 2013 Australian Open and 2013 WTA Tour Championships, a three-time quarterfinalist at Wimbledon and a semifinalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and 2013 US Open. Among her other most notable achievements, she was the first Chinese player to win a WTA tour title at the Guangzhou International Women's Open in 2004, the first to reach a Grand Slam singles quarterfinal at the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, and the first to break into the world's top ten. Li retired from professional tennis on 19 September 2014, at the age of 32. In 2019, she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Chinese tennis star Li Na shot to fame in 2011 when she became the first Asian player to make the finals at the Australian Open and the first Asian-born tennis player ever to win a Grand Slam singles event at the French Open. Na returned to Australia in 2014 to claim the Grand Slam title.

Li Na announced her retirement in 2014, the same year Forbes named her one of the highest-paid female athletes. Na earned $23.6 million in 2014, $18 million of which was from endorsements. Na has continued to enjoy big endorsement deals long after her retirement. Recently, she partnered with Nike to launch the Li Na collection in China. Li Na is one of the seventh richest female athletes with a net worth of 50 million dollars.

Net assets: $50 million

Hawaiian native Lokelani McMichael is the only female athlete in our top five who isn’t a professional tennis player, and that’s alright by us! Instead, the 39-year-old is an American triathlete, surfer and model who grabbed a lot of attention in 1995 when she finished her first Ironman at just 18 years old and landed a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest woman to ever finish the race.

Skyrocketing to stardom and earning fame for her beauty and outstanding athleticism in the triathlon world, McMichael continued to rack up millions in prize money from Ironman competitions as she launched a second career as a model. Appearing in dozens of fitness ads, McMichael might not be the most famous name on my list but her shocking $40 million net worth and her beauty definitely make her one of the richest and one of the hottest!

Net assets: $40 Million

Our top ten richest and hottest female athletes start with 25-year-old Denmark native Caroline Wozniacki who made her debut in the Women’s Tennis Association Tour in 2005. Quickly becoming a mainstay on the court, Wozniacki reached the pinnacle of the tennis world when she was ranked as World No. 1 on the Tour in October 2010 for 67 incredible weeks. Having since dropped to the 18th spot, Wozniacki is still a force to be reckoned with on the court.

With an impressive career record of 23 WTA singles titles as well as making the finals in the U.S. Open in 2009 and 2014, Wozniacki is still looking to win a women’s Grand Slam title. In the meantime, she’s built her $20 million net worth with endorsement deals from Adidas and Godiva in addition to launching her modeling career with Sports Illustrated. Like Lindsey Vonn from earlier on our list, Wozniacki also made headlines when she broke off her three-year relationship and engagement to professional golfer Rory McIlroy in 2014.

Net assets: $20 Million

The richest mixed martial artist on our list and the female athlete who made more headlines last year than any other is 29-year-old California native, Ronda Rousey. Voted by ESPN as the “Best Female Athlete Ever,” “Rowdy Rousey” was on top of the world as the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion until she lost the belt to Holly Holm in November 2015 bringing her MMA record to an impressive 12 wins and one loss.

Having been featured in just about every media outlet that exists, Rousey recently even hosted Saturday Night Live after making special appearances in The Expendables 3, Furious 7 and Entourage. Though Rousey will have another shot at winning back her title, she’s certainly not struggling with $9 million in the bank and endorsements that continue to pour in making her the wealthiest and hottest MMA fighter in the industry.

Net assest: $9 Million

Whether you recognize her name from hockey, Russian politics or tennis, 29-year-old Maria Kirilenko is the former girlfriend of Washington Capitals legend Alexander Ovechkin, the current wife of Moscow politician Alexei Stepanov and a Russian tennis star. How’s that for being popular? Tennis fans know Kirilenko as a solid top ten player from 2013 who somehow never managed to make it past the quarterfinals in any major tournament.

Despite never bringing home a title, Kirilenko landed an incredible endorsement deal as the face of Adidas in 2006 until she was replaced by Caroline Wozniacki (we’ll see her later on the list) in 2009. With an incredible $8 million net worth, the replacement wasn’t a huge deal as Kirilenko appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition the same year before disappearing from tennis altogether. Kirilenko returned to the spotlight in July 2015 looking better than ever before having since joined a new club of baby bottles and bibs thanks to the birth of her baby boy.

Net assets: $8 Million

With only two surfing babes left on our list, the next one up is California native Malia Jones who, at 39 years old, proves there must be something in the water because she’s hotter than ever before! Launching her surfing career at just 13 years old, Jones won the girls’ division of the U.S. Amateur Surfing Championship just two years later when she also landed the second opportunity of a lifetime. Spotted by Surfing Magazine during the competition, Jones was recruited to model for their swimsuit issue leading to a second and prosperous career.

While Jones is better known for walking the catwalk rather than shredding the waves, she has made an incredible career for herself with dozens of magazine covers that have earned her the title as one of the “50 Most Beautiful People” in the world. Landing endorsement deals for Coca-Cola, Corona and American Express as well as features in Sports Illustrated and Esquire, Jones will continue to climb this list as she works on designing her own swimwear line which will only pad her $7 million net worth. She is the last athlete on my list of richest female athletes.

Net assets: $7 million