Iga Swiatek surpasses Venus Williams in interesting financial category

Originally posted on Serve on SI | By Pat Benson | Last updated Oct 14, 2025 8:47 PM ET

Last Friday, Jasmine Paolini soundly defeated Iga Swiatek in straight sets in the Wuhan Open quarterfinals. While it was not the ending Swiatek had hoped for in the Masters 1000 event, she still made WTA history.

Swiatek earned $83,250 in prize money for reaching the quarterfinals in Wuhan. That officially put her above Venus Williams for the second-most career prize money in WTA history. However, Serena Williams still has a dominant lead in career earnings.

As of this week, Swiatek has made $42,945,490 in career prize money compared to Venus' $42,867,364 total. Meanwhile, Serena has a comfortable lead with $94,816,730. Below is a list of the top leaders in WTA history.

No. 1: Serena Williams, $94,816,730
No. 2: Iga Swiatek, $42,945,490
No. 3: Venus Williams, $42,867,364
No. 4: Aryna Sabalenka, $42,480,621
No. 5: Simona Halep, $40,236,618
No. 6: Victoria Azarenka, $38,890,473
No. 7: Maria Sharapova, $38,777,962
No. 8: Petra Kvitova, $37,653,615
No. 9: Caroline Wozniacki, $36,479,231
No. 10: Angelique Kerber, $32,545,460

As many fans have pointed out, it is hard to compare prize money from different eras. Not to mention, the number of endorsement deals has exploded in recent years (thanks to the trailblazers that came before the current generation of active players).

Just some of Swiatek's sponsorships include On (apparel and footwear), Porsche (automotive), Rolex (watches), Visa (financial services), Infosys (technology), Lancôme (beauty products), Tecnifibre (tennis rackets) and Oshee (sports drinks).

In 2024, only Coco Gauff made more money from endorsement deals than Swiatek, with Qinwen Zheng closely trailing. From there, Aryna Sabalenka, Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu followed behind.

In the 2025 season, Swiatek has made $9,417,532 in prize money. More impressively, she showed her resilience by overcoming a traumatic 2024 season and a dreadful start to this year's campaign.

Swiatek struggled through her usually dominant clay court season, only to find herself on grass and win her first Wimbledon title. After securing her sixth career Grand Slam, Swiatek has risen back up to WTA World No. 2.

Swiatek currently has a record of 61-15 and is well-positioned to make a strong push to the WTA Finals in Riyadh. Sabalenka has already secured the year-end No. 1 ranking, but Swiatek continues to make history at just 24 years old.

Fans can expect to see Swiatek compete again this week at the Ningbo Open.

This article first appeared on Serve on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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