Aryna Sabalenka sets new WTA single-season prize money record
The world No. 1 smashed a 12-year-old benchmark that was set by Serena Williams in 2013.
Aryna Sabalenka may have failed to cap off her 2025 season with the coveted WTA Finals title, but she is walking away with a cool consolation prize.
By winning at least $15,008,519 through her on-court results this year, Sabalenka secured herself the richest season in WTA history.
The world No. 1 smashed a 12-year-old benchmark for single-season prize money that had been set by Serena Williams in 2013. Williams won $12,385,572 that year with a 78-4 win-loss record, and titles at Roland Garros, the US Open, and the WTA Finals.
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Sabalenka's second straight US Open title bagged her $5 million, and her runner-up finish to Rybakina in Riyadh added another $2.695 million. She also won more than $2.5 million combined by finishing runner-up at the Australian Open and in Paris.
With Sabalenka's total earnings for the year not yet final, and her off-court portfolio for the year currently unclear, this total alone already puts her on the doorstep of the combined $18.7 million Forbes reported she took home in 2024.
But on the eve of the WTA Finals final, where both Sabalenka and Rybakina were playing for a record $5.235 million after finishing undefeated in the round-robin phase of the event, Sabalenka said any dollar amount isn't her focus.
🖥️📲REPLAY: Elena Rybakina def. Aryna Sabalenka, 2025 WTA Finals F
"I just really have a lot of love to the sport, and I really enjoy fighting. I really enjoy, like, pushing myself to the limit, and I enjoy these kind of things," she said. "And, I mean, of course, when you win, you think, 'Oh actually, I've got a good check,' you know. But this is never crossing my mind during the match. ... But it's a good check to have."