As tennis players chalk off the first month of the playing calendar, Aryna Sabalenka has become the first multi-millionaire WTA player this season.
Sabalenka swept aside China's Qinwen Zheng, preventing her from recreating history exactly ten years to the day when Li Na became the last Chinese Grand Slam champion. Nevertheless, history was still made because Sabalenka retained her Australian Open crown.
It's been 11 years since the last woman won back-to-back titles in Melbourne, and that happened to be Victoria Azarenka, who, incidentally, is a Belarusian like Sabalenka.
However, it is pertinent to note that Sabalenka's triumphs will count as a neutral champion because of her affiliation with Belarus, which is considered an ally of Russia in the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Therefore, players from those two territories cannot play under the flag of their respective countries.
Sabalenka has begun her 2024 season just like the last one, although she was stopped from winning a title in the opening week by a sensational performance from Elena Rybakina in Brisbane. However, she still earned $135,000 for her runner-up finish.
But in Melbourne, Sabalenka reached nirvana and won big, completing the fortnight without dropping a set. She is just the fifth WTA player this century to achieve this milestone, joining legends such as Lindsay Davenport, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, and Ashleigh Barty.
Additionally, Sabalenka received A$3,150,000, which is roughly $2,071,125 USD, as prize money for being the women's champion. That took her 2024 prize money tally in the region of $2.2 million, comfortably topping the list in the first month of the new season.
It is the second straight season that she eclipsed every other woman on tour to first place, but she will be looking to stay there for the rest of the year. She'll be able to do so by winning more Grand Slam trophies. Sabalenka was the second-highest earner of prize money on the WTA tour in 2023, receiving $8,202,653.
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