The 10 highest-paid female athletes in the world

Danica Patrick is the most famous women's racing driver in the world, and called time on a wildly successful sports career in May.

She now has a clothes label, Warrior, and a fitness book. Forbes says she made $3 million from the Nascar season last year, and $4.5 million through sponsors.

Simona Halep, the best women's tennis player in the world according to the WTA, made most of her money ($6.2 million) through sport.

Her Adidas deal expired in 2017, so she did not receive as much as other athletes from sponsorships. She signed a new deal with Nike earlier this year.

P.V. Sindhu made the least out of the althetes on the list in terms of prize money, but commanded an $8 million paycheck because of deals with Nokia, Panasonic, Reckitt- Benckiser, and eight other brands.

Over the last 18 months, Williams reached the final of WTA Finals, played her 1000th match, and made $4.2 million in prize money from June 2017 to June 2018.

The rest of her windfall was through endorsements. She also makes approximately $100,000 every time she is hired on the speaking circuit, according to Forbes.

Maria Sharapova did not win one of the big prizes in tennis this year or last, which explains why she only made $1 million from sport.

She made $9.5 million endorsing the likes of Nike, Porsche, and Evian, though.

Garbiñe Muguruza won Wimbledon last year which helped boost her earnings for the one-year period to $5.5 million.

However, she made just as much money because of sponsorship deals with renowned brands like Beats by Dre and Rolex.

Sloane Stephens won her first major late last year, the 2017 US Open, and won $5.7 million in total prize money from June 2017 to June 2018.

In that same time she almost doubled her money from endorsements, bringing in $5.5 million because of deals with Nike, Mercedes-Benz, Colgate, and others.

Caroline Wozniacki made a career-best performance at the 2018 Australian Open as she won her first ever Grand Slam singles title.

The 28-year-old made $7 million in prize money and $6 million in endorsements from sponsorships that include Adidas and Rolex.

Serena Williams only hauled in $62,000 in winnings from June 2017 to June 2018 as she was away from the game while pregnant, then gave birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.

However, she has many blue-chip sponsors including Nike, Audemars Piguet, Gatorade, and Beats by Dre, and made an astonishing $18 million in endorsements. Not bad work if you can get it.