Jimmy Connors makes his feelings clear on Elena Rybakina earning record $5.2M prize money at WTA Finals

Elena Rybakina enjoyed a fantastic week at the WTA Finals in early November, going undefeated at the event to win her third title of 2025 and a $5.2 million cheque. Recently, Jimmy Connors weighed in on the Kazakh's earnings, making his feelings clear about the massive prize money.

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Rybakina kicked off her campaign in Riyadh with a win over Amanda Anisimova, before going on to dispose of Iga Swiatek and Ekaterina Alexandrova. She then defeated Jessica Pegula in the semifinals, before ousting World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the summit clash. As a result of her unbeaten streak at the event, the 26-year-old won a total amount of $5.2 million, which included an incentive of $2.5 million for going undefeated through the tournament.

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Recently, during his ‘Advantage Connors’ podcast, Jimmy Connors shared his honest thoughts about the extra incentive at the WTA Finals, saying,

“You know, adding a bonus like that, I kind of like that. It gives the players something you know, not that winning the event and beating the No.1, No.2, No.3 in the world isn't enough, but little incentives, two and a half million is not a little incentive, but you know that's pretty amazing.”

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He went on to reflect about Elena Rybakina's massive earnings, adding,

“That's worth going out and saying ‘hey, I gotta stay in shape throughout the whole year now’, you know, to go to (Tour Finals) and be undefeated and play that kind of tennis in November. After everything they've been through, the amount of tournaments, the amount of travel, the training and everything, you can see it's worth it.”

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During his playing days, Connors won a total of 109 tournaments and US $8,641,040 in prize money.

Elena Rybakina shares her plans for spending her massive cheque from the WTA Finals

For Elena Rybakina, the WTA Finals marked her best performance of the year. Reflecting on her earnings after the tournament, the Kazakh shared that while she hadn't thought about the amount a lot, she was looking forward to celebrating with her team and family, saying in a press conference,

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“Well it's definitely a huge amount and honestly I didn't think about any of that so much but of course it's great and we definitely need to celebrate really well with the team, family and everyone.”

Overall, Elena Rybakina enjoyed a strong 2025 season. Apart from the WTA Finals, she also won the Ningbo Open and the Internationaux de Strasbourg.

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Edited by Riddhi Acharya

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