Record-setting endorsement deal I

　　NEW YORK, —Tennis star Venus Williams signed a cont ract with Reebok worth a reported $40 million today in what is believed to be the richest endorsement deal eve r for a female athlete.

　　"This is another part of reaching out for my dreams ," said Williams, who won Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and Olympic gold medals during a 35-match winning streak(连续 一段时间的得胜、出色表演) this year. At 20, she is ranked third in the world.

　　Huge endorsement deals are rare in women's sports. Nike has deals with soccer's Mia Hamm, basketball's Lis a Leslie, track's Marion Jones and top-ranked tennis st ar Martina Hingis, who has a six-year pact worth nearly $30 million.

　　On paper, Anna Kournikova may have the richest deal of all, a six-year contract with Adidas worth $50 milli on. But it guarantees the tennis star only about $3 mil lion, with the rest contingent(分得部分) on her success on the court. And she has yet to win her first tournament.

　　By contrast, Nike has a reported $100 million deal with Tiger Woods, and Michael Jordan generates $40 mill ion a year in endorsement income two years after his re tirement from basketball.

　　The terms of Williams' deal were not disclosed, but Reebok marketing officer Angel Martinez suggested that reports of a five-year contract worth $40 million were accurate.