Aryna Sabalenka sets new WTA single-season prize money record

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.

Read more: Aryna Sabalenka: "I'll sit back in the Maldives with my tequila and try to analyze ... my emotions"

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."