Two players have been by far the best this year on the WTA Tour, and the prize money rankings clearly demonstrate that.
They are Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka. While heading into the 2024 US Open, the World No. 1 player was ahead in the prize money earnings this year, having earned $6,985,693 compared to the Belarusian's $4,384,145, after the US Open, it’s Sabalenka who is now on top.
The Belarusian player won the US Open, which is why she’s now ahead of Swiatek, who held that number one spot for much of this year. The season started in Australia, where Sabalenka played wonderfully, making one final and winning the Australian Open.
That was enough to push her to number one on the prize money rankings for a good part of the early season, as she earned $2,083,371 for her efforts in Melbourne. Swiatek started to pull back some of that deficit as the year went on.
She won the Qatar Open, which paid out $523,485 to her as the winner. Her next win came in Indian Wells, where Swiatek was able to net $1,100,000, which was enough at that time to push her past Sabalenka.
The Belarusian didn’t give up, but she couldn’t come anywhere close to Swiatek in the following months. This was because the Pole added another trophy to her cabinet in Madrid, where she bested none other than Sabalenka in the final.
That further increased the gap between them, and it grew even more when she also bested the same player in the Italian Open final. Back-to-back wins over Sabalenka in the final netted Swiatek over $1.5 million in prize money ($963,225 for winning the Madrid Open and $699,690 for the Italian Open).
At Roland Garros, Swiatek also won, netting $2,400,000 as the champion of the second major of the season. The gap between them was very wide, but Sabalenka pulled it back with a great run in the United States.
Swiatek hasn’t played that well since Roland Garros, failing to make a final since then. She was beaten by Sabalenka in Cincinnati, and the Belarusian went on to win the event.
That reduced the gap between them to about $2.5 million. However, it was still a huge difference. The only way for Sabalenka to overtake Swiatek was to win the US Open, as it has the largest payout sum of all the Grand Slams.
Sabalenka arrived in New York in wonderful form and played some super solid tennis to reach the final. In the final, she faced Jessica Pegula and outplayed the American in two sets to win the trophy.
Winning the US Open netted Sabalenka $3,600,000, the same amount Jannik Sinner got as the men's winner, and it was enough to push her past Swiatek. After the US Open, the Belarusian sits at $7,984,145, while her biggest rival, Swiatek, has earned $7,515,693 in the 2024 season so far.
These two are set to battle it out for the number one ranking until the end of the year, but also for the bragging rights of being the biggest earner in 2024.
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