WTA Career Prize Money Leaders

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2009 was a record in terms of women's earnings in the WTA tour. Serena Williams became the female athlete with the most earnings in history. Her current tally stands at a staggering US$28.51M. She is also the first female tennis player to break more than $6M earnings in one year. What's equally astonishing is that her older sister, Venus Williams currently stands at #2 in the career earnings list. She trails Serena by $3.5M but is almost $3M ahead of the #3 player in the list – fellow American Lindsay Davenport. Below is the list of top WTA career money leaders as of Jan 1, 2010. Both singles and doubles earnings are included in the earnings computation.

Rank	Name	Country	Career Earnings (US$)
1	Serena Williams	USA	28,506,993
2	Venus Williams	USA	25,066,990
3	Lindsay Davenport	USA	22,144,735
4	Steffi Graf	GER	21,895,277
5	Martina Navratilova	USA	21,626,089
6	Martina Hingis	SUI	20,130,657
7	Justine Henin	BEL	19,461,375
8	Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario	ESP	16,942,640
9	Kim Clijsters	BEL	16,396,856
10	Amelie Mauresmo	FRA	15,022,476
11	Monica Seles	USA	14,891,762
12	Svetlana Kuznetsova	RUS	13,797,659
13	Maria Sharapova	RUS	13,092,900
14	Elena Dementieva	RUS	12,970,747
15	Conchita Martinez	ESP	11,527,977
16	Jana Novotna	CZE	11,249,284
17	Jennifer Capriati	USA	10,206,639
18	Mary Pierce	FRA	9,793,119
19	Dinara Safina	RUS	9,767,469
20	Jelena Jankovic	SRB	9,432,449
21	Chris Evert	USA	8,896,195
22	Gabriela Sabatini	ARG	8,785,850
23	Ai Sugiyama	JPN	8,128,126
24	Patty Schnyder	SUI	8,002,702
25	Lisa Raymond	USA	7,961,311
26	Nadia Petrova	RUS	7,905,817
27	Natasha Zvereva	BLR	7,792,503
28	Ana Ivanovic	SRB	7,199,522
29	Daniela Hantuchova	SVK	6,661,673
30	Nathalie Tauziat	FRA	6,650,093
31	Vera Zvonareva	RUS	6,648,889
32	Helena Sukova	CZE	6,391,245
33	Elena Likhovtseva	RUS	6,237,556
34	Virginia Ruano Pascual	ESP	5,996,655
35	Cara Black	ZIM	5,987,257
36	Anastasia Myskina	RUS	5,606,725
37	Amanda Coetzer	RSA	5,594,821
38	Pam Shriver	USA	5,460,566
39	Mary Joe Fernandez	USA	5,258,471
40	Paola Suarez	ARG	5,134,870
41	Rennae Stubbs	AUS	4,814,111
42	Anke Huber	GER	4,768,292
43	Gigi Fernandez	USA	4,681,906
44	Zina Garrison	USA	4,590,816
45	Francesca Schiavone	ITA	4,588,625
46	Chanda Rubin	USA	4,470,180
47	Iva Majoli	CRO	4,405,867
48	Magdalena Maleeva	BUL	4,398,582
49	Samantha Stosur	AUS	4,315,310
50	Nathalie Dechy	FRA	4,281,064
51	Katarina Srebotnik	SLO	4,256,031
52	Marion Bartoli	FRA	4,200,880
53	Larisa Neiland	LAT	4,083,936
54	Liezel Huber	USA	4,069,886
55	Jelena Dokic	AUS	4,062,373
56	Sandrine Testud	FRA	3,782,307
57	Meghann Shaughnessy	USA	3,705,131
58	Silvia Farina Elia	ITA	3,688,252
59	Anna Kournikova	RUS	3,584,662
60	Anna Chakvetadze	RUS	3,519,366
61	Victoria Azarenka	BLR	3,510,297
62	Amy Frazier	USA	3,460,799
63	Lori Mcneil	USA	3,441,604
64	Anabel Medina Garrigues	ESP	3,403,925
65	Agnieszka Radwanska	POL	3,348,817
66	Hana Mandlikova	AUS	3,340,959
67	Flavia Pennetta	ITA	3,302,657
68	Caroline Wozniacki	DEN	3,250,358
69	Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere	SUI	3,244,811
70	Barbara Schett	AUT	3,109,510
71	Julie Halard-Decugis	FRA	3,096,734
72	Alicia Molik	AUS	2,952,745
73	Jie Zheng	CHN	2,858,736
74	Tamarine Tanasugarn	THA	2,837,773
75	Wendy Turnbull	AUS	2,769,024
76	Nicole Vaidisova	CZE	2,734,883
77	Irina Spirlea	ROM	2,652,068
78	Brenda Schultz-Mccarthy	NED	2,632,395
79	Shahar Peer	ISR	2,546,653
80	Kveta Peschke	CZE	2,495,287
81	Nicole Pratt	AUS	2,404,547
82	Tathiana Garbin	ITA	2,347,821
83	Maria Kirilenko	RUS	2,343,064
84	Anna Smashnova	ISR	2,274,431
85	Anna-Lena Groenefeld	GER	2,270,566
86	Gisela Dulko	ARG	2,258,496
87	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	GER	2,227,116
88	Katerina Maleeva	BUL	2,220,371
89	Eleni Daniilidou	GRE	2,187,226
90	Virginie Razzano	FRA	2,184,252
91	Kimiko Date Krumm	JPN	2,173,928
92	Na Li	CHN	2,168,021
93	Alona Bondarenko	UKR	2,166,147
94	Emilie Loit	FRA	2,121,660
95	Manon Bollegraf	NED	2,112,117
96	Magui Serna	ESP	2,065,291
97	Janette Husarova	SVK	2,057,193
98	Sabine Appelmans	BEL	2,054,352
99	Dominique Monami	BEL	2,013,032
100	Tracy Austin	USA	1,992,380

Some observations:

* The USA has the most players in the top 100 with 18. Russia is next with 11. France is at third with 9, Australia is fourth with 7, and Spain is fifth with 5.
* In terms of total earnings, USA is at the top with $180.43M, Russia is second with $85.47M, France is third with $51.13M, Spain is fourth with $39.94M, and Belgium is fifth with $39.93M.
* Serena and Venus Williams have earned more than the whole nation of France - $53.57M against $51.13M.
* Despite 11 players in the top 100, no Russian is ranked in the top 100. This will most likely change by 2010 year-end because 3 Russian players will most likely push recently retired Amelie Mauresmo away from the top 10. Svetlana Kuznetsova is #12, Maria Sharapova is #13, and Elena Dementieva is #14. Who will be the first Russian to enter the top 10?
* Kuznetsova, Dementieva, and Conchita Martinez of Spain (#15) are the 3 players in the top 15 to have never been ranked as #1.
* Dementieva, Dinara Safina (#19), and Jelena Jankovic (#20) are the 3 players in the top 20 who have never won a singles Grand Slam championship.
* 17 women tennis players have earned more than $10M. Amongst active players, Safina and Jankovic are the 2 most likely candidates to join this elite group by the end of 2010.
* Asian countries Japan, China and Thailand have a total of 5 players in the top 100. The top Asian earner is doubles specialist – Ai Sugiyama at #23.
* Australian Margaret Smith Court, who holds the most Grand Slams titles with 24 singles championships, didn't earn enough to make it in the top 100 list.
* 6 players have earned more than $20M. The next active player most likely to reach that milestone is recently un-retired Justine Henin of Belgium. Her current earnings stand at $19.46M.