By Caroline Cheese

SHARAPOVA'S DEALS Motorola estimated annual �550,000 TAG Heuer estimated annual �550,000 Canon estimated annual �1.1m Parlux Fragrances estimated annual �550,000 Colgate-Palmolive estimated annual �1.1m Nike estimated annual �545,000 Prince estimated annual �450,000 Also endorses Speedminton (combination of tennis, badminton and racquetball) and I-play (mobile games)

It is the stuff of folklore now, but in 1994 Maria Sharapova's dad borrowed �400 so he could take his daughter to Florida to hone her tennis skills.

To say the least, it has proved to be a wise investment.

A year on from winning Wimbledon at the age of 17, Sharapova has jumped to the top of Forbes magazine's list of highest-paid female athletes with earnings of �10m and looks on course to become the richest woman in sport.

That shatters the mark set by previous rich list leader Serena Williams in the year to June 2004 of �5.2m.

Unknowingly, Sharapova opened the door to one of her biggest deals when she attempted to phone her mum on Centre Court after stunning Serena in last year's final.

By August, Motorola had snapped up the teenager on a seven-year contract worth an estimated �550,000 a year.

Multi-million-pound deals with Tag Heuer watches, Canon, Parlux Fragrances and Colgate-Palmolive have since followed.

By the time she arrived in Melbourne for the Australian Open in January, her image was emblazoned on a Nike advert big enough to cover a six-storey building with the tag line: "Is this the scariest sight in tennis?"

(It's worth noting that Nike are not exactly short on tennis icons, with Andre Agassi and Roger Federer both signed up to the clothes manufacturer.)

Sharapova celebrated her 18th with a Motorola-sponsored party

And in April, Sharapova's status as sport's most marketable woman was sealed when she celebrated her 18th birthday with a Motorola-sponsored party.

Guests, including actress Lindsay Lohan and Maroon 5's Adam Levine, were given Motorola's latest phone as their going-home gift.

Tag Heuer are preparing to launch a diamond-encrusted Maria Sharapova watch (yours for �1,000) and her own perfume is due out in September.

Life has changed for Sharapova, but she and her family have been preparing for this since she arrived in Florida at the age of seven.

After two years of financial struggle, she was accepted by super-coach Nick Bollettieri's academy.

She was signed up by marketing giants IMG by the time she was 11 and soon after signed a clothing deal with Nike.

"A lot has happened experience-wise, off-court wise," Sharapova said recently.

"But I've always felt like I was in the public eye and people expected good things from me. I've dealt with it really good.

Maria checks her watch - a diamond encrusted Tag worth �1000

"I know I've had a lot of attention and people recognise me, a lot more fans and a lot more marketing deals, but I've been enjoying it."

As she returns to the scene of that remarkable victory a year ago, Sharapova, still only 18, will be in more demand than ever before.

But if it does get too much, she can always seek solace in the �1.5m mansion she has just snapped up in Florida.