Andy Murray is set to out-earn footballber David Beckham as Britain’s highest-paid sportsman after his Wimbledon semi-final success and the promise of more to come next month at the US Open.

The 22-year-old Scot has cleaned up his off-court act in recent months, cutting his unruly hair, losing some of his gruff demeanour and charming a nation with his run at Wimbledon.

Marketing experts say he could be on track to exceed the $200 million fortune earned by Beckham and former Spice Girl wife Victoria. Murray is managed by the same company, 19 Entertainment, which handles the Beckhams.

Reports indicate that the No. 3 is also the target of the top clothing firms, who look set to make offers which will dwarf the $1.2 million he gets from Britain’s Fred Perry line.

Even his “autobiography,” ghost-written at age 20, is now the subject of paperback bidding rights, even though Murray himself long ago admitted that it was a slightly presumptuous move on his part.
The re-release of Hitting Back could be worth a quick $800,000, to top up his $1.6 million from a mineral water company.

Murray earned some good publicity earlier this year in the depth of the world financial crisis when he offered to reduce the rate on his $3.6-million Royal Bank of Scotland contract, a move which was rejected by Britain’s current corporate villain, now temporarily benefitting from the post-Wimbledon “Murray effect”.