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:

I will be calling Luxembourg home for the next couple of years. Sorry for not posting. I was in the process of moving from the U.S. to Luxembourg. It has been a hectic process. Everything is so much more bureaucratic here compared to the U.S. I know, it is hard to believe. But to get a resident permit, in addition to bunch of papers, you need to show them a doctor’s certificate and x-ray results for the tuberculosis screening test–something they have started since 60s and never thought if it is still needed in the 21 century. Complete waste of time and money, if you ask me. Being x-rayed for bureaucratic purposes is not fun.

Haven’t been able to follow what’s happening in the tennis world, except the scores. Needless to say, I also lost my interest, when learned that my favorite, David Nalbandian was sent packing in the first round. Que paso David?

I have yet to figure out how to get more English or Russian TV channels. Most of the channels on cable are either German, French or Luxembourgish. I saw some Wimbledon matches on a French channel. And Eurosport is obsessed with cycling. No matter how bad the US tennis coverage is, believe me, it is much better than not understanding what they are saying… but I loved their A-lya-lya!!!

The posts will be somewhat erratic this summer, since I will be traveling a lot, but I’ll do my best to post more often.

Congratulations to Venus! Vamos Rafa!

1. Personal growth.
2. Heightened health consciousness due to losing her mother at a young age.
3. Heightened urgency to enjoy the life while you can (again due to the reason given above).
4. No more necessity to prove herself in front of the once estranged family members or ex-husband after reconciling with her family and achieving a record success last season.
5. She wants to be free!

She is a brave woman.

Also check out my piece She is Already at the Top, So What’s Next? written as part of On the Baseline Tennis News’ 2008 Players to Watch Series.

What is your guess? Why Justine quit?

The two former Scotland Yard detectives who led the review of tennis have concluded in their report that there was no evidence to back Russian or Italian mafia links in tennis. Do you find this report convincing enough?

In the last two days, Dinara Safina has earned her new name — the Giant Killer. She took her second major victory in two days as she sent former world number one Serena Williams out of the German Open just a day after dispatching world no. 1 Justine Henin.

Russian tennis star and Goodwill Ambassador of the UN Development Program Maria Sharapova will visit Chernobyl this summer to draw attention to problems still facing the regions worst hit by the 1986 nuclear disaster. (Ria Novosti).

Maria Sharapova has made an appearance on CBS’ Late Show last night, where David Letterman presented her with a can of tennis balls with a bow on it. World No. 3 Sharapova was in New York to celebrate her 21st birthday. If you missed the show, you still can check it out at Down the Line.

The U.S. State Department has nominated Ana Ivanovic for its 2008 International Women of Courage Award. The award was created by the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in order to recognize achievements by outstanding women globally with a focus on recognizing women on the ‘front lines.’

What Ana Ivanovic has done to deserve this nomination? I checked Ana’s official website to see what she has done so courageous. In addition to reaching world #2 in the rankings, “in the past year Ana became a UNICEF ambassador for Serbia. Since her inauguration in September 2007 she has not only donated a considerable sum that has enabled 15 schools to join the “Schools Without Violence” programme, she has raised awareness about child safety through her off-court activities, which included writing a newspaper column that benefited UNICEF during the Australian Open.”

That’s a lot of achievement, and I am pleased to see that athletes are socially active. However, I don’t think this is enough to get nominated for the “International Courage Award.” Check out the previous two years’ recipients here and here to understand what exactly “being courageous” means to me.

What do you think? Does Ana deserve the nomination?