Jan 14, 2008

MELBOURNE, Australia – On Monday Lindsay Davenport became the highest earning athlete in the history of not just the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, but all of women's sport by advancing to the second round of the Australian Open with a 62 36 75 victory over Italy's Sara Errani. With her win today, Davenport eclipses Steffi Graf in career prize money, with the German having previously overtaken Martina Navratilova in earnings in 1998. Davenport earnt $25,284 by advancing beyond the first round and thus increases her career earnings to $21,897,501, surpassing Graf by $2,224.

"I'm ecstatic," Davenport said. "I never thought I'd be back playing tennis and having this much fun in the process, let alone breaking any records. When I picked up my first prize money cheque at the Evert Cup in Indian Wells in 1993, I never, ever thought it would have led to all this. Women's tennis has grown tremendously in those 15 years, and we the players have the fans and our sponsors to thank for that. I am extremely proud to have reached this milestone for female athletes all around the world and to have taken over from Steffi Graf, one of the greatest players ever to play our sport, well that's just the icing on the cake."

"This is an historic milestone for Lindsay and indeed for all women athletes," said Larry Scott, CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. "It's a testament to Lindsay's dedication, hard work and talent that she has become the all-time prize money leader of our sport. Her commitment throughout the years has been unwavering, and even more impressive following her extraordinary comeback following the birth of her son last year."
 
Davenport turned professional in March 1993, upsetting world No.5 Gabriela Sabatini en route to the Florida quarterfinals. In her career, she has won every major tournament with the exception of Roland Garros. She was a winner in Australia in 2000 defeating Martina Hingis, at Wimbledon in 1999 defeating Steffi Graf and her home Grand Slam, the United States Open in 1998, again over Hingis. Davenport won the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in 1999 and won Gold in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, amounting to a total of 54 singles titles and 36 doubles titles in that time. She passed the one million US dollar mark at the 1995 Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, later exceeding the $10 million mark at 2000 Scottsdale and the $20 million mark at 2005 Wimbledon.

Prize Money Milestone's in Women's Tennis:

* In 1971, total Tour prize money for 19 events was $309,100. In 2008, it has grown to almost $71 million for 60 events and in 2009 will reach $84 million

* In 1971, Billie Jean King became the first female athlete to pass the six figure mark in single season earnings. In 2007, 134 women earned over $100,000 during the season

* In 1976, Chris Evert became the first female athlete to pass $1 million in career earnings at the Colgate Champs in Palm Springs, CA; in 1986 Martina Navratilova became the first woman to pass $10 million in career earnings at the U.S. Indoors and it was Navratilova again eight years later at 1994 Filderstadt, where she became the first to pass the $20 million mark

* By winning Wimbledon 1982, Martina Navratilova became the all-time prize money leader in tennis, over taking both Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors, a mantle she held until 1989; later that year, she became the first female athlete to pass $1 million in a single season finishing with $1,475,055

* In 1984, Navratilova surpassed the $2 million mark in season earnings; in 1997 Martina Hingis passed the $3 million mark; in 2003 Kim Clijsters passed the $4 million plateau and in 2007 Justine Henin became the first woman in sports to pass $5 million in single season earnings

* On three occasions, a woman has actually been the top earner in tennis, bettering any ATP player during the season: 1984 – Martina Navratilova, 1991 – Monica Seles and 2003 – Kim Clijsters.