Sports and money open a new chapter: Women are competing "more" equally against men for The Highest-Paid Athletes Under 30.

From Forbes:

Watch out guys. When it comes to making the top money in sports, the latest generational shift has women closing the gap in a big way.

Sure, only five of the 20 highest-paid athletes on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list are female. But none of them have reached their 30th birthday, a sign that the next generation is catching up. Indeed, women now account for half the under-30 list of highest-paid athletes between June 2006 and June 2007.

In Pictures: The 10 Highest-Paid Athletes Under 30

Top-earning golfer Michelle Wie made more than any man on the pro tour outside of Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson. Tennis stars Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams out-earned all men not named Roger Federer.

The trend makes sense. With more grammar school and high school girls playing sports than ever before, companies like Nike (nyse: NKE - news - people ) have a greater need for lady pros to hawk their female-oriented lines.

"Girls' level of participation is much greater than it was 20 years ago," says Andy Appleby, CEO of General Sports, an industry consultant.

Not that female endorsement opportunities are limited to athletic wear and such. Williams pitches McDonald's (nyse: MCD - news - people ) and Estée Lauder. And when race car driver Danicka Patrick made history as the first female to hold a lead at the Indy 500, the phenomenon made her an instant celebrity, a groundbreaker with mass appeal. Bingo--along came Hostess and Mr. Clean with big endorsement deals.

When it comes to team sports, women still lag. Women's professional soccer and baseball came and went. The WNBA, while it's lasted more than a decade thanks to a subsidy from the NBA, hasn't caught on with the public as owners hoped. That's why there's no female answer to David Beckham, LeBron James or Alex Rodriguez. At least not yet.

"The development of [women's] team sports is still in the embryonic stage, at a time when there are so many choices for sports fans," Appleby says.

It really doesn't matter though. When it comes to cashing in, it's tough to beat individual sports like golf, tennis, auto racing and boxing--for men or women. The right mix of performance, looks and personality is unbeatable for marketers (think Tiger Woods).

Pro teams, playing in leagues that impose minimum salaries and salary caps (all except baseball, where a luxury tax system offers a quasi-cap), spread the dough around a little bit more evenly, even as the stars make more. That's probably why only two of the highest-paid athletes under 30, James and Kobe Bryant, come from team sports.

NBA Commissioner David Stern asserts that the WNBA is pretty much where women's tennis was a generation ago, meaning that bigger and better times lie ahead. That may be wishful thinking. But if it works out, the basketball version of Wie or Sharapova could be coming soon to an arena near you.

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Mots-clés: The Highest-Paid Athletes Under 30