Coco Gauff has revealed she was completely oblivious to how much money she would be earning from the WTA Finals after claiming the title in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
The 20-year-old defeated Qinwen Zheng 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) in Riyadh to land the top prize, representing the biggest windfall of her tennis career.
Her efforts in the Arabian Gulf landed her an eye-watering payday, with a cheque for the amount of £3.72million ($4.81m) heading into her bank account.
Adding up Gauff’s participation fee of £259,000 ($335,000), two group wins £541,000 ($700,000), semi-final success £983,000 ($1,270,000) and triumph in the final £1.94m ($2.5m), it combined to give her a lucrative prize money and doubled her earnings for the entire calendar year.
The American starlet gave a refreshing reaction when she was told how much she would be taking home, insisting that the financial aspect wasn’t her driving factor to win.
“I didn’t know, like I knew it was some money, but I didn’t know that much,” Gauff said. “Oh gosh, I hope I’m like one of the highest-paid female tennis players this year or athletes so that’ll be exciting.
“Honestly, I wanted to win this for myself. I didn’t know that it was the biggest prize cheque on this tour, I didn’t know anything about that. I knew there was money, but I try not to never play for this, but that’s cool.”
By winning the WTA Finals for the first time, Gauff topped up her prize money fund to £7,241,220 ($9,353,847) for 2024 – the seventh-highest season total in WTA history – as she rounded off another impressive year.
She also became the youngest woman to win the tournament since Maria Sharapova back in 2004. Her triumph was only made sweeter by the fact she beat top seed Aryna Sabalenka and the world No 2 Iga Swiatek on her way to claiming the title.
It means the 2023 US Open champion is now amongst some of the biggest women’s tennis stars of all-time in terms of career earnings, despite only turning professional six years ago.
Asked what she is going to splash her hard-earned cash on, Gauff replied: “Oh it means a lot to me, I have bought a house… I’m going to a music festival next week.
“So, I don’t know [how I will spend the money], I’m not someone who likes to spend a lot of money to be honest. I don’t know what I’ll do with it. That’s a lot of money.”
