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Post by bangkokbobby on Aug 13, 2015 3:17:43 GMT
 For the 11th straight year Maria Sharapova tops the Forbes list of highest paid female athletes. The career Grand Slam winner from Russia benefited from her contracts with Nike, Avon, Tag Heuer, Porsche and Evian among others. Her personal candy line, Sugarpova, doubled in sales over the past 12 months. All of this added up to 29.2 million dollars. A lot has been made recently about Maria Sharapova leading Serena Williams in earnings despite Serena having a far better career. Many have pointed to Serena being body shamed and the racial aspect of the tall blonde Sharapova being a more stereotypical media darling. While some of this is certainly true, I think it needs to be fairly pointed out that many of Sharapova’s sponsors reap the benefits of having her back their products over the years. It isn’t simply because they like her that she gets the big dollars. For example, a few years ago she had the number one selling ballet flat from Cole Haan. People tend not to bring things like that up. Also, Masha, wherever she goes, will set up boutique stores and do extensive promotion for her sponsors in a way that I don’t see any other tennis player do. Sometimes I think Masha does too much for her sponsors to the detriment of putting in time on the court. Sure, other players show up at events for their sponsors but none to the degree that I see Sharapova doing it. And while many speak of Serena’s great popularity here and around the world, it must be also noted how popular Maria Sharapova is around the world. This is a fact that is evident in her having by far the most Facebook followers among female tennis players and being a social media darling, releasing her own very popular, among her fans anyway, Maria Sharapova social media app. Sponsorship is not always a meritocracy and never has been. The fact of the matter is that Maria Sharapova doesn’t only get sponsorship deals surpassing other players simply because she’s tall and blonde. She also is great at pushing product. In fact, I’ve spoken to some people who lament that Serena is number 2 currently in earnings and I ask them if they’ve ever bought a product directly linked to Serena Williams. None of them have. I can tell you that I have bought products promoted directly by Maria Sharapova. And to be clear, I don’t simply mean going out and buying a pair of Nike shoes that are not part of either of their lines. Just recently I bought a few bags of Sugarpova. I bought the sporty and the cheeky varieties. One was a gummy bear candy and the other was miniature tennis ball gumballs. Even when Sharapova was busy being an ambassador for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia she still had the time to promote a Samsung boutique store at the Olympics. In fact, I think that her being tall and blonde makes her an easy target. Don’t forget that a few years ago before Li Na retired the Chinese superstar tennis player, who has fewer major victories than Sharapova, was number two on the list also ahead of Serena. And there are marketing reasons for that with sponsors seeing China as a gold mine of opportunity. The point is people weren’t really coming and complaining about Li Na besting Serena in the same way as they complain about Maria Sharapova. I think that is because when you compare Serena and Maria it becomes too easy and too simple to make it all about race and body type and ignore what Maria has given back to her sponsors in profit. With that being said, Serena isn’t missing any meals at 24.6 million in earnings herself. So let’s not cry any tears for Serena. In fact the top 10 is full of tennis players. 7 in total. I also blog about the LPGA, so it’s good to see Stacy Lewis in the top 10. Additionally, I also blog about Ronda Rousey so it’s nice to see the armbar assassin in the top 10 as well. 1. Maria Sharapova, tennis ($29.2M) 2. Serena Williams, tennis ($24.6M) 3. Caroline Wozniacki, tennis ($14.6M) 4. Danica Patrick, auto racing ($13.9M) 5. Ana Ivanovic, tennis ($8.3M) 6. Petra Kvitova, tennis ($7.7M) 7. Simona Halep, tennis ($6.8M) 8. Ronda Rousey, mixed martial arts ($6.5M) 9. Stacy Lewis, golf ($6.4M) 10. Agnieszka Radwanska, tennis ($6.0M) |
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Post by philknj on Aug 13, 2015 4:06:45 GMT
I don't know who Stacy Lewis' business manager is, but that person must be working 24x7. bangkokbobby: Yeah, all that junk in the trunk!   But, don't put me on her body shaming list...there's nothing wrong from what I've seen in the last 15 years. Many years ago, I remember one of the top Russians complaining that Maria Sharapova spoke Russian with a harsh accent! Can't remember the name of that player, but I think she did a photo shoot while sitting naked on a horse.   |
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Post by bangkokbobby on Aug 13, 2015 12:44:00 GMT
I don't know who Stacy Lewis' business manager is, but that person must be working 24x7. bangkokbobby: Yeah, all that junk in the trunk! But, don't put me on her body shaming list...there's nothing wrong from what I've seen in the last 15 years. Many years ago, I remember one of the top Russians complaining that Maria Sharapova spoke Russian with a harsh accent! Can't remember the name of that player, but I think she did a photo shoot while sitting naked on a horse.  That would be 2004 Roland Garros winner Anastasia Myskina, whom I think either currently is or recently has been the Russian Fed Cup captain. Back when she was on tour, I was a big fan. But man, was she a loose cannon on court and with her coaches. When she won Roland Garros, I remember her not only thanking her team but acknowledging to them publicly that working with her was not easy.  |
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Post by mr3putt on Aug 13, 2015 18:42:03 GMT
BKB
You should reformat your OP.
A 1000+ paragraph is virtually impossible to read.
I know it's been discussed before...but why are the top $ earners in women's sports coming from tennis?
Let's face it.....few baby boomers play tennis...many play golf and the young generation plays neither.
Most public tennis facilities remain dormant.
There would be a 4 hour wait if municipal golf courses were free.
So why the earning potential of the female tennis pros?
IMO....none are overly hot....maybe Ana....Eugene is attractive...but I think she's toast without a recovery.....yes looks attract sponsorships.
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Post by bangkokbobby on Aug 13, 2015 23:30:34 GMT
BKB You should reformat your OP. A 1000+ paragraph is virtually impossible to read. I know it's been discussed before...but why are the top $ earners in women's sports coming from tennis? Let's face it.....few baby boomers play tennis...many play golf and the young generation plays neither. Most public tennis facilities remain dormant. There would be a 4 hour wait if municipal golf courses were free. So why the earning potential of the female tennis pros? IMO....none are overly hot....maybe Ana....Eugene is attractive...but I think she's toast without a recovery.....yes looks attract sponsorships. Maria Sharapova  Don't forget that tennis is a global sport. The athletes are hugely popular around the world. The WTA finals were once in the USA. Now the big money is coming from Asia. Tour finals are in Singapore. Before that, Istanbul. Tennis players are hugely popular in their home countries in Europe. 8 of the London Summer Olympic flag bearers at the Opening Ceremonies were tennis players, including Maria Sharapova (Russia) and Novak Djokovic (Serbia). I believe that was the highest number of flag bearers from one specific sport in 2012. Sharapova was also the athlete that brought the Olympic torch into the stadium. I believe golf will greatly benefit from being in the Olympics. In the beginning, people poo pooed the idea of tennis as a medal sport in the Olympics but it turned out to be really great because once it became a medal sport a lot of European countries put a lot of money into developing tennis players, especially Russia. Also it isn't hard to imagine players like Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy or any number of great golfers as flag bearers for their country. Why not a female player? Why not Stacy Lewis? Why not Inbee Park? Why not Suzann Pettersen? Players like Petra Kvitova, Simona Halep and Agnieszka Radwanska (who was the 2012 Polish Olympic flag bearer) might not register here but they are huge in other places. Aga is the reigning Fan Favorite winner on the WTA and has been for several years.Djokovic might not be a superstar here but he is a two time and reigning Laureus Male Athlete of the Year. In other words, don't judge overall tennis popularity by North American interest. Also, as a former employee of the USTA, tennis is more popular in the USA than one might think. The US Open brings in record money for the NYC area and participation in league tennis in places like Georgia and California is very strong. But globally, tennis is strong...and getting stronger in Asia. As for who is "overly hot" or not, that's completely in the eye of the beholder. I am immersed enough following a lot of tennis players and seeing the fans and what they have to say and what they post that I know that there are plenty of fans out there who have a thing for any number of players. Also, the question isn't whether tennis is more popular than golf. I suspect that golf overall might be more popular. The question is whether women's tennis is more popular than women's golf. In that case globally I think women's tennis still is the premier sport for female athletes. That could change in time but for now, and for a long time it has been so, that women's tennis is simply more popular globally and the stars market their products globally. That's why they make the most money. Heck, it wasn't until recent years that I could watch Golf Channel's Golf Central and not have to wait for the PGA, then the seniors, then the nationwide/web.com tour before they finally got around to maybe mentioning the LPGA. That was especially so if Asian players won that week on the LPGA. The LPGA can't even get proper respect within its own industry's media...unless one of a handful of their specific LPGA media darlings won that week. Novak Djokovic (Serbia)  Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland)  Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland)  |
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Post by mr3putt on Aug 14, 2015 6:00:36 GMT
BKB
Tennis likely is an under appreciated sport in North America but globally popular....similar to soccer.
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Post by bangkokbobby on Aug 14, 2015 12:15:49 GMT
BKB Tennis likely is an under appreciated sport in North America but globally popular....similar to soccer. ...and I think we'll see golf, in time, develop a big wave of players from Eastern Europe...especially Russia...now that golf is in the Olympics...some countries really value Olympic medals in a way that goes beyond how we do...watch certain countries start to really invest in training little girls to be pro golfers...I wouldn't be surprised 10 to 15 years from now to see a bunch of Russian players doing very well on the LPGA. |
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But, don't put me on her body shaming list...there's nothing wrong from what I've seen in the last 15 years.
