Kazakh tennis star Elena Rybakina capped her season in style, lifting the 2025 WTA Finals trophy in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh. With that, she also took home the largest payout in WTA history, a milestone that sparked praise from across the sport, including American icon Billie Jean King and fellow player Jessica Pegula.
Jessica Pegula and Others React to Elena Rybakina’s Massive WTA Finals Prize Money
Rybakina entered the WTA Finals in the Serena Williams group and opened her campaign with a commanding 6-3, 6-1 win over American Amanda Anisimova. She then stunned World No. 2 Iga Świątek 3-6, 6-1, 6-0, and carried that momentum into her next match, easing past Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-4 to secure her place in the semifinals.
Despite the challenge Pegula posed in the opening set, Rybakina stayed composed and turned the match around for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory. Riding that momentum, the Kazakh then overpowered World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6(0) in the final to claim the prestigious season-ending title.
The victory added another major title to Rybakina’s résumé and came with a record $5,235,000 prize. In her post-match press conference, she was reminded of the staggering payout and asked whether prize money ever crosses her mind during tournaments.
“Well it’s definitely a huge amount and honestly I didn’t think about any of that so much but of course it’s great and we definitely need to celebrate really well with the team, family and everyone,” she replied.
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Notably, the champion’s prize in Riyadh surpassed even the payout for the ongoing ATP Finals. The winner in Turin will earn a record $5,071,000, the biggest in that tournament’s history, yet still short of the WTA Finals reward.
Several notable names, including Pegula, Billie Jean King, former World No. 1 Garbiñe Muguruza, and Swiss tennis star, Belinda Bencic took note of Rybakina’s prize money and reacted on their respective Instagram stories.
Pegula, who had proudly highlighted Rybakina’s record prize, was seemingly astonished by the $6 million winner’s payout at last month’s Six Kings Slam exhibition event in Riyadh. While there has long been debate over prize-money inequality in men’s and women’s tennis, Riyadh appears to bridge that gap by offering huge prizes for both men and women.
However, it’s important to note that Grand Slams award equal prize money to men’s and women’s champions. This year’s US Open featured a record $90 million total prize pool, with champions Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz each receiving $5 million, the largest winner’s payout in Major history.
In fact, it was also due to legend Billie Jean King’s advocacy in 1973 that the US Open became the first event to offer equal prize money for men and women. The WTA Finals’ record prize pool certainly made headlines and was also massive for the semifinalist Pegula, who earned $1,050,000.
