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PICTURED: Serena Williams

DESPITE FAILING to land a Grand Slam title since her return from childbirth, Serena Williams is still the richest woman in any sport.

The American tennis ace, headed the top 11 highest-earning female sport athletes over the past year – all of whom are tennis players.

Veteran Williams, 37, a 23- time Grand Slam winner, tops the Forbes rich list, after earning £24.3 million, including £20.57m in endorsements, according to the magazine.

Japan’s Naomi Osaka, who beat Williams in the US Open final, is second. The US’ Women’s World Cup-winning striker Alex Morgan is the first non-tennis player at 12 after earning £4.77m.

ROBUST

Williams is the only woman to make it onto the Forbes top 100 best paid athletes list, coming in at number 63 in the list compiled in June.

The younger Williams sister was soundly beaten by Romanian Simona Halep in the Wimbledon final, but nevertheless she continues to expand one of the most robust endorsement portfolios in sports, add- ing Pampers, Axa Financial and General Mills to her roster.

They join more than a dozen other brands like Nike, Beats, Gatorade and JPMorgan Chase.

Williams scores highly across all demographics, and only Tiger Woods and Tom Brady have higher levels of awareness among athletes with US consumers.

Williams’ £184.8m estimated net worth makes her the only athlete on Forbes’ list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women.