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The Richest Female Athletes, Based on Net Worth

Being at the top in women’s sports takes grit, dedication, hard work and the ability to be at the top of your game in the face of rampant sexism. In 1970, a group of nine female tennis players decided to create their own tournament in protest of the huge difference in prize money for men and women on the circuit: men sometimes got paid as much as 12 times more than women.

The Original 9 found a sponsor, held a successful tournament and convinced the sponsor to back an entire circuit of tournaments. This led to the foundation of the Women’s Tennis Association in 1973 and a vigorous fight for equal prize money: of the Grand Slam tournaments, the US Open started awarding equal prize money for female and male players in 1973 while the Australian Open waited 28 more years — until 2001 — to do the same. The French Open followed in 2006 and Wimbledon in 2007.

In other sports, women still lag far behind when it comes to prize money, so it’s no wonder that tennis players are leading the ranks of the richest female athletes based on net worth. Let’s take a look at who they are. All amounts are given in US dollars.



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