WTA Career Prize Money Leaders: Serena and Venus Williams dominate the list, with Swiatek and Sabalenka gaining ground

The No. 1 spot for career prize money leaders could be none other than 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, who has the most earnings in history, with more than double that of her immediate pursuer—none other than her sister, Venus Williams.
Among the active players who are climbing to the top is the name of six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek, the recent Wimbledon champion who is about to surpass the $40 million earnings mark. The Pole climbs to fourth place, in a top 10 with minimal differences that also includes Aryna Sabalenka in eighth place with “only” a $2 million difference.
At TennisUpToDate, we review the players with the highest on-court career earnings, where most of the top 10 are players who shone in the previous decade—several of them are still active, while others have practically finished their careers.

The gap between Serena and Venus is more than $50M

Serena Williams is indisputably the player with the highest career earnings, totaling more than $94 million in earnings, which places her by far as the highest-earning female athlete in history. The 23-time Grand Slam champion has 73 titles and reached 25 other finals. Her dominance in the majors accounts for a large part of her prize money, although she also won 23 WTA 1000 titles and five WTA Finals. She has more than double the prize money of the second-place player, her sister Venus Williams.
The older of the sisters is in second place with just over $42 million in earnings. She holds seven Grand Slam titles, in addition to reaching nine other finals, adding 271 wins in major main draws, and is still active at 45 years old, playing her last tournament at the DC Open. She is preparing to play the Cincinnati Open this week and has 49 titles, including nine WTA 1000 titles.

Third place is for the Romanian Simona Halep, who has surpassed $40 million in earnings and won a total of 24 titles—two of them Grand Slams, in addition to three lost finals in majors. The consistency of the Romanian over the last decade allows her to take a place on the podium, also a result of her nine WTA 1000 titles and nine other finals in the same category.

Simona Halep is in the third place, but just with small difference.

Swiatek and Sabalenka rapidly climbing

The six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek reaches fourth place with $39.4 million in earnings, and everything indicates that she will surpass $40 million this season. The recent Wimbledon title put her in fourth place, leaving behind legends like Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka. It would not be surprising to see the Pole take third place in the coming weeks, and even finish the season ahead of Venus Williams herself, considering that they are separated by $3 million, a figure that Swiatek could surpass given the increase in prize money at the US Open and that she still has a couple of WTA 1000 tournaments and the WTA Finals ahead. A few good campaigns in those tournaments would eventually leave her in second place towards the end of the year.

Meanwhile, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is in eighth place with $36.8 million in earnings. The three-time major champion is getting closer to moving up positions, and it would not be strange to see her displace another pair of legends in the coming weeks. She is very close to Kvitova, Azarenka, and Sharapova, and with “only” $3 million separating her from Swiatek and $6 million from Venus Williams (second), everything seems to indicate that sooner rather than later we will see Sabalenka and Swiatek fighting for second place behind Serena Williams.

Other notables legends in the top-10

Petra Kvitová, a two-time Wimbledon champion, climbs to seventh place after a notable career, with 31 titles—nine of them WTA 1000 and one WTA Finals. The Czech also achieved a notable sum of 128 main-draw wins at Grand Slams. The Czech player has only one tournament left before her retirement: the upcoming US Open, though without too many possibilities of moving up in the ranks, as only by winning the title could she surpass sixth-place Victoria Azarenka.

The former world No. 1 from Belarus, Victoria Azarenka, also won two Grand Slam titles—and reached three other finals. She has 163 main-draw wins at majors and won 10 WTA 1000 titles for a total of 21 titles and 20 finals reached. At 36 years old, she is recovering from an injury and has not yet ended her career. We can expect at least one last return from Azarenka, although it remains to be seen how great her ambitions can be when retirement is closer than ever.
Another case is that of Caroline Wozniacki, in ninth place with $36.4 million in earnings, slightly behind world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. The Dane has 30 titles and reached 25 other finals, with her Australian Open trophy and the 2017 WTA Finals standing out, in addition to six WTA 1000 titles and six other finals.