Aryna Sabalenka has enjoyed another fantastic season on the WTA Tour in 2025.
The Belarusian star has spent the last 45 weeks ranked number one in the world, maintaining a solid gap to her closest rivals, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff.
Unfortunately for Sabalenka, despite her dominance elsewhere on the WTA Tour, she hasn’t been able to win a Grand Slam in 2025.
After Sabalenka lost to Madison Keys in the final of the Australian Open in January, she fell to Gauff in the Roland Garros final five months later.
As she now looks to defend her US Open title in New York, Sabalenka has called for tennis to make a change, labelling the current situation a ‘joke’.
Aryna Sabalenka says players ‘deserve more’ prize money
During a sit-down interview ahead of the US Open, Sabalenka was asked what she would change in tennis if she was in charge for a day.
“Prize money,” she said.
“But not only for the WTA. I think all tennis players deserve to get more.
“I think even if you compare our sport to others, like the NBA, golf, and NHL, if you see the percentage, it’s like a joke.
“I think we need to bring this number a bit higher.”
The tennis tours have long been criticized for their failure to share their profits with players.
Compared to other major sports like the ones Sabalenka mentioned, tennis often ranks among the lowest for the ‘percentage of the sport’s revenues received by players in salaries/and or prize money’.
During a press conference in Brisbane earlier this year, 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic had this to say about the revenue split.
“I’m just going to state a fact. The pie split between the governing bodies in major sports, all major American sports, like the NFL, NBA, baseball, and NHL, is 50 percent. Maybe more, maybe less, but around 50 percent,” he said.
“Ours is way lower than that.”
Players clearly think they deserve more, but how much have they earned in 2025 so far?
Top 20 prize-money earners in tennis (2025)
Sabalenka and Djokovic have both earned more than $3 million this year, enough to see them rank inside the top 20 across the WTA and ATP Tour.
| Rank | ATP/WTA | Name | Nationality | Prize money (2025) |
| 1 | ATP | Carlos Alcaraz | Spanish | $10.6 million |
| 2 | ATP | Jannik Sinner | Italian | $9 million |
| 3 | WTA | Iga Swiatek | Polish | $8.2 million |
| 4 | WTA | Aryna Sabalenka | Belarusian | $7.1 million |
| 5 | WTA | Coco Gauff | American | $5.9 million |
| 6 | ATP | Alexander Zverev | German | $4.2 million |
| 7 | WTA | Mirra Andreeva | Russian | $4.1 million |
| 8 | WTA | Madison Keys | American | $4 million |
| 9 | ATP | Ben Shelton | American | $3.9 million |
| 10 | WTA | Jasmine Paolini | Italian | $3.8 million |
| 11 | ATP | Taylor Fritz | American | $3.7 million |
| 12 | WTA | Amanda Anisimova | American | $3.6 million |
| 13 | ATP | Novak Djokovic | Serbian | $3.4 million |
| 14 | ATP | Jack Draper | British | $3.3 million |
| 15 | ATP | Alex de Minaur | Australian | $3.1 million |
| 16 | ATP | Lorenzo Musetti | Italian | $2.8 million |
| 17 | ATP | Casper Ruud | Norwegian | $2.7 million |
| 18 | ATP | Holger Rune | Danish | $2.5 million |
| 19 | ATP | Andrey Rublev | Russian | $2.5 million |
| 20 | ATP | Karen Khachanov | Russian | $2.5 million |
In 2025, Sabalenka has secured $7.1 million in prize money, while Djokovic picked up over $3 million.
That’s clearly a lot of money, although that’s not to say Djokovic and Sabalenka aren’t right to complain.
Just because they earn millions of dollars more than the average person doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be given their fair share.
If the money the Grand Slams and other tour events earn isn’t trickling down to the players, then surely something needs to be done.
The likes of Sabalenka and Djokovic have pushed hard for change, as have their rivals.
Earlier this year, several top 20 players sent a letter to the Grand Slams demanding more prize money.
Whether it’s enough is up for the players to decide… but the US Open is now offering record prize money in 2025.
2025 US Open prize money (men’s and women’s singles)
- Winner – $5,000,000
- Runner-up – $2,500,000
- Semifinalist – $1,260,000
- Quarterfinalist – $660,000
- Round of 16 – $400,000
- Round of 32 – $237,000
- Round of 64 – $154,000
- Round of 128 – $110,000
Sabalenka and Djokovic will no doubt have their eyes on the $5,000,000 prize, but won’t want to get too far ahead of themselves.
In round three, Sabalenka will play Leylah Fernandez on Friday, August 29, before Djokovic plays Cameron Norrie.
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