Why do athletes deserve high salaries?

Athletes deserve to have high salaries because they work hard to get where they are now. Sports might be the only thing they are good at. But if you played a sport you would know how hard is it to get where they are now. Its not easy to be a pro it takes years of practice. Some even start when they are around 6 years old. Some would say that they should get paid that much amount of money. Some say that because athletes don't risk their life's but they certainly do so. I know that firefighters risk their life's and they should get paid more than what athletes earn. But they also work hard like any other career.