With over a billion fans worldwide, tennis is by far one of the most sought after sports on the planet. The fan following, craze and passion with which they operate is exhilarating to witness and wonderful to experience.

Such massive viewership and fan base also brings lucrative deals and hefty salaries. Tennis athletes are some of the highest paid around the world.

Tennis athletes top ‘new’ charts

The most recently released Forbes listed several athletes as the highest earners. 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams, Emma Raducanu and young prodigy, four time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka all featured on the new edition, with majority of their income stream from endorsements. Venus Williams, the five-time Wimbledon champion, World No.1 Iga Swiatek, and American star Coco Gauff also made the list, establishing the fact the sport has an lucrative platform for female athletes.

Fans all over, admire the players for their skill, athleticism and also their silverware count but there are elements to it as well. A recent survey by ‘Spin Genie’ revealed that fans take into consideration a different numbers of factors that make sport persons such adored and followed figures.

The research has revealed that a large number of fans are drawn to the athletes they are physically attracted to.

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Fans pick tennis athletes as hottest

According to research on the searches made on various search engines and browsers by fans worldwide, tennis athletes have their names searched followed by the word “hot”, especially in the past two years. With over 491,100 searches, Alisha Lehmann, a Swiss national team player and Aston Villa player, takes first place. She is renowned for her social media activity off the pitch as well, she has over 13 million followers, making her the most popular female football player.

Italian player, Camila Giorgi, ranked 67 worldwide and known for her violent style of play, was third on the list. With more than 360,000 searches in the previous two years, Emma Raducanu is second on the list. Retired players and legends of the game, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova too made the top six according to survey list, once again showing their popularity.

The survey conducted gave a glimpse into understanding the mindset of fans and also illustrated another element to fan following. Although the list and survey may not be popular and some may argue about its need, the information provided does leave food for thought.

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