The 2025 WTA Finals promises to be a stacked tournament with some of the best players of this season headlining it, including Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Świątek, and Coco Gauff. The winners’ prize money in Riyadh has increased compared to last year, marking a rather positive trend for women’s tennis.
Sabalenka, Świątek, Gauff, and Keys split the four singles Majors this year. While the Americans nabbed the first two Grand Slam tournaments of 2025, the Pole and the Belarusian were able to somewhat retain their vise-like grip over the rest of the WTA field by winning Wimbledon and the US Open, respectively. The quartet will be joined by Amanda Anisimova, Jasmine Paolini, Jessica Pegula, and Elena Rybakina – all of whom have previously played in Major finals.
The doubles field, on the other hand, will be rounded out by teams featuring Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani, Taylor Townsend and Kateřina Siniaková, Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe, Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens, Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider, Jeļena Ostapenko and Su-wei Hsieh, Tímea Babos and Luisa Stefani, and Asia Muhammad and Demi Schuurs.
WTA Finals Prize Money to Increase by Over 2% This Year
This year’s WTA Finals marks a high point in Saudi Arabian sporting event history, as the license for the tournament is owned by Public Investment Fund (PIF) — one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. In that regard, it hardly comes as a surprise that the champion will take home a paycheck worth $15.5 million ($12.4 million in singles and $3.1 million in doubles).
The figure is 2.08% higher than the winners’ prize money compared to the 2024 WTA Finals in Riyadh, which was $15.25 million. Although this increase may seem small at first glance, it is important to note that the prize money on offer was 72.2% less when the indoor hardcourt tournament was held in Cancun two years ago.
The WTA had suffered financially following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, leading to massive prize money cuts at even the biggest of the tournaments. The 2021 and 2022 year-end championships in Guadalajara, Mexico, and Fort Worth, USA, respectively, had only $5 million for the singles champion to take home.
In retrospect, the 2023 WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, offered better incentives for its elite players. With a total singles and doubles winners’ prize money worth $9 million up for grabs, the Florida-based organization has since found its feet with a little help from Saudi Arabia.
WTA Finals Prize Money Full Breakdown
For academic purposes, Iga Świątek and Coco Gauff are the only two players in the singles field who have previously enjoyed title success at the WTA Finals. While the Pole dominated her peers en route to her 2023 triumph, Gauff put together a gritty campaign to win her second career big title in 2024.
They will be well-incentivized for their efforts by virtue of the prize money increase this year. Each round-robin victory in singles and doubles will be rewarded with prize money winnings of $355,000 and $72,000, respectively. The finalists in singles and doubles will each bag a separate paycheck of $1,29,000 and $257,000 (which will be added to their respective round-robin tallies).
Similarly, the respective singles and doubles titlists will take home $2,54,000 and $524,000 for their championship-match wins alone. Undefeated champions in singles and doubles, meanwhile, have a big payday ahead of them as they will receive $5,23,500 and $1,13,900, respectively.
Shenzhen Deal Going Off the Rails Affected WTA Finals Prize Money Before Riyadh Reset
In 2018, the WTA had signed a 10-year deal to organize its elite tournament in Shenzhen, China, under former CEO Steve Simon’s leadership. A lot has changed on that front since then, though.
Following former World No. 14 Shuai Peng’s surprise retirement from tennis and subsequent concerns over her well-being after she accused a Chinese government official of sexual assault, the women’s tennis governing body boycotted China for several years.
The 2019 edition of the WTA Finals, which was won by Ashleigh Barty in singles and the team of Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic in doubles, offered a paystub of $14 million. Although the WTA certainly suffered from its decision to withhold the license of its elite tournament back then, the ship has been since righted under new CEO Portia Archer, who is a staunch supporter of the year-end championships being played in Riyadh.
