Hottest Female Athletes of 2008

They're hot, they're sexy, and they're some of the best athletes on the planet.

Though the list could go on and on, here are 14 of the world's hottest female athletes of 2008.

All statistics are updated as of today, and these hot and talented athletes were selected by the readers of SportsNet.ca.

At Number Three: Anna Ivonovic

Age: 20 Birthplace: Belgrade, Serbia

Sport: Tennis

Serbian tennis star Ana Ivanovic might be the best 20-year-old female athlete on the planet today. The current world No. 2 is fresh off a runner-up finish to Maria Sharapova at last month's Australian Open, with the No. 1 ranking now within her sights.

Ivanovic has been a media darling since joining the WTA Tour in 2003, but 2007 was probably the first year in which her play generated as much ink as her looks.

In addition to her recent Aussie Open final appearance, Ivanovic also made it to the finals of the French Open and the semi-finals of Wimbledon in the past 12 months. Should her form continue, it's a safe bet her web site will remain the most visited among female athletes.

What they say: "She's almost like the Catherine Zeta-Jones of the tennis world. She's like a princess on the court: so feminine and yet so powerful with it." - Eurosport's Chris Bradnam.

At Number Two: Natilie Gulbis

Age: 25 Birthplace: Sacramento, CA

Sport: Golf

For the first few years of her career, it appeared Gulbis was in danger of following the same path as Anna Kournikova -- a sporting sex symbol with an empty trophy case.

Going pro in 2001 at age 18, it wasn't until the 2007 Evian Masters that Gulbis won her first LPGA tournament.

She did flirt with success several times, however, finishing sixth on the LPGA money list in 2005 and placing in the top-10 in four consecutive majors from the 2005 LPGA Championship to the 2006 Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Away from the green, Gulbis has marketed herself into a superstar with a photo spread and monthly golf advice column in men's mag FHM, a reality television show on The Golf Channel and a smoking-hot calendar which the USGA refused to sell at the U.S. Women's Open because it was 'inappropriate'.

What they say: "Once she starts winning, she's going to be a megastar," Gil Ozir, VP of Marketing for Raymond Weil, said last year. Gulbis won a few days later.

At Number One: Maria Sharapova

Age: 20

Birthplace: Nyagan, Soviet Union

Sport: Tennis

Forget the three major championships and millions of dollars in endorsements, Sharapova's most impressive feat has to be topping Sportsnet.ca's Hottest Female Athlete list for the second consecutive year.

The Siberian Siren combines beauty and brawn like no other, so it's no wonder our readers made Sharapova the only athlete on our poll to break the 100,000-point mark in voting.

Just last month, Maria added the Australian Open to a resume that already included Wimbledon (2004) and U.S. Open (2006) victories, leaving her one French Open win shy of a career Grand Slam. Since turning pro in 2001, Sharapova has managed 17 singles titles, grunting every step of the way.

In fact, her on-court groaning once clocked 101 decibels (the volume of a police siren) during a match at Wimbledon 2005.

It was a bad year for swimmers, runners, cyclist, and triathletes as no women made the Top 14 of the Hottest Female Athletes in 2008.

You can see the entire list HERE.