Just do it… Make millions! World’s highest-paid female athlete is going to get even richer. Russian tennis superstar Maria Sharapova has extended her sponsorship deal with Nike in an eight-year $70 million agreement. The contract goes into effect this month and includes a line of dresses designed by Maria. She currently makes close to $22 million a year in prize money and from endorsing companies (Tiffany & Co, Sony Ericsson and Canon). She consistently ranks as the highest paid-female athlete of the world and the highest paid athlete in Russia for the last several years. Read more »

Serena Williams’ autobiography On the Line has come out this month. Here is the book description from the publisher:

“One of the biggest stars in tennis, Serena Williams has captured every major title. … From growing up in the tough, hardscrabble neighborhood of Compton, California, to being trained by her father on public tennis courts littered with broken glass and drug paraphernalia, to becoming the top women’s player in the world, Serena has proven to be an inspiration to her legions of fans both young and old. Her accomplishments have not been without struggle: being derailed by injury, devastated by the tragic shooting of her older sister, and criticized for her unorthodox approach to tennis. Yet somehow, Serena always manages to prevail. Both on the court and off, she’s applied the strength and determination that helped her to become a champion to successful pursuits in philanthropy, fashion, television and film. In this compelling and poignant memoir, Serena takes an empowering look at her extraordinary life and what is still to come.”

Do you wonder why Venus Williams was wearing Miami Dolphins T-shirt in her press conference today at US Open? The Williams sisters have to be admired not only for their tennis skills but also for their business and entrepreneurial skills. Only about ten days ago it was reported that the sisters planed to become limited owners of NFL’s Miami Dolphins, and Venus has already been promoting the team at the U.S. Open. Serena also famously uses Twitter to promote her business ventures, let it be her upcoming book or her appearance on Home Shopping Network.  Do you get bothered by Serena’s constant promotional tweets, or you love anything she tweets about?

You can tell the media and the tennis fans are all warming up for the US Open. There is so much happening on the count-down days.

Maria Sharapova has unveiled her new fashion collection by Cole Haan. The three-time Grand Slam singles champion has debuted her Maria Sharapova by Cole Haan collection of handbags and footwear at the Rockefeller center in New York on August 28th.

More photos after the cut. Read more »

Tennis player Maria Sharapova with an annual income of $22 million tops the list of the 50 powerful Russian celebrities. She is followed by football forward Andrei Arshavin with over $7 million. There are 19 newcomers on the list among whom are Dinara Safina (16th, $4.5 million), and Vera Zvonareva (42nd, $2,4 million). Elena Dementieva was the 19th ($1.9 million) and Svetlana Kuznetsova was 33rd ($3 million). The rankings were estimated based on earnings, media exposure and search terms on Yandex Russian search engine.

Interestingly Maria was also the only Russian ranked at 76th on the Forbes’ 100 Celebrities list 2009. It should be noted that Maria was sidelines for nine months by the shoulder injury.  Despite her absence from the courts, her web rank was 15. Not bad ha?

Read more about Maria’s celebrity power here, and here.

Roger Federer has passed Pete Sampras to become the biggest all-time money earner in men’s tennis. Federer raised his career earnings to $43,3 million  with a second-round win at the Madrid Masters tournament this week . Read more about Roger’s endorsements here and here.

From Publishers Weekly:

At least three publishers are currently vying for the rights to a book by nine-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams; offers are reportedly approaching $1 million and Suzanne Gluck at William Morris is said to be planning on meetings with the top three bidders. The memoir by Williams, who just won her third U.S. Open last week, will include elements about race and her faith; according to two publishers who passed on the 30-page proposal given the expected steep price tag. Sample chapters included one on a searing experience she had at a tournament a few years ago, and another on her trip to Africa. Veteran collaborator Dan Paisner, who’s worked on books with Montel Williams, Ed Koch, George Pataki and Whoopi Goldberg, among others, is co-writing.

Serena’s sister Venus sold a book to Dawn Davis at HarperCollins’s Amistad imprint in July just after beating Serena to win her fifth Wimbledon title; The Coach Matters: Life Lessons Beyond the Playing Field is slated to be published in summer 2010, so readers may be in for another battle of the sisters.

Tennis stars are making headlines and … money not only on court  but also (read mostly) off court.

•  Maria Sharapova joins Cole Haan Sporting line. (On the Baseline)
• American Sam Querrey signed two deals while at U.S. Open, with Olympus and Zappos.com. Querrey joins fellow tennis player John Isner as the only professional tennis players with endorsement deals with Olympus. (Olympus)
• Russian Anna Chakvetadze reportedly is planning to sign an apparel deal with Fila.  (Sports Business Journal)
• Adidas plans to launch a tennis racket next year and wants Novak Djokovic to be the endorser. (Sports Business Journal)

Marketing Daily reports that Canon readies new Sharapova ad for the US Open debut (even though Maria’s participation in the event is not confirmed yet due to her shoulder injury).

“…The new TV spot for Canon PowerShot, featuring tennis star Maria Sharapova and her dog Dolce, shows fans with Elph cameras approaching the player and asking to take a picture. Unfortunately, the picture they want (to her growing chagrin) is of her dog, Dolce.

The TV spot will break on the first day of the Aug. 25-Sept. 7 tournament and run for its duration on USA Network and CBS. And the tennis star will unveil five diamond-encrusted Canon PowerShot Elph cameras during an invitation-only event at “Canon Center Court” on Aug. 20 at South Street Seaport.“

If you are a female athlete and you want to get rich, play golf or tennis. Forbes reports that the highest-paid female athletes come almost exclusively from tennis and golf, which offer higher levels of prize money and greater opportunities for endorsement. Here is the list of the top ten highest paid women athletes: