{"id":772085,"date":"2026-09-16T03:22:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T03:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/772085\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T03:22:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T03:22:30","slug":"kazakhstans-rybakina-makes-history-twice-tops-wta-prize-money-standings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/772085\/","title":{"rendered":"Kazakhstan\u2019s Rybakina Makes History Twice, Tops WTA Prize Money Standings"},"content":{"rendered":"

ASTANA \u2014 Elena Rybakina has added another distinction to a landmark season, topping the Women\u2019s Tennis Association\u2019s 2026 prize-money standings after becoming the first player representing Kazakhstan to reach the No. 1 singles ranking, according to the WTA.<\/p>\n

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Photo credit: US Open<\/p>\n

Rybakina has earned<\/a> over $10 million in prize money this season, according to WTA figures, putting her nearly $2.8 million ahead of second-placed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, with Czech Republic\u2019s Linda Noskova in third.<\/p>\n

The biggest boost came in New York, where Rybakina won<\/a> her first U.S. Open title on Sept. 12, defeating two-time defending champion Sabalenka 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. The victory earned her a record $5.5 million in prize money and 2,000 ranking points.<\/p>\n

Rybakina officially became the PIF WTA World No. 1 on Sept. 14, becoming the 30th woman in WTA history to reach the top spot and the first man or woman from Kazakhstan to do so.<\/p>\n

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Photo credit: US Open<\/p>\n

The achievement is especially significant for Rybakina because the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation played a decisive role in the early stages of her professional career. Speaking to the WTA after her U.S. Open victory, she recalled that she had been considering offers from U.S. universities when the federation noticed her at a tournament and backed her.<\/p>\n

\u201cKazakhstan has given me so much. The opportunity to try myself in the professional tour, it was a big decision for me and my family. Somehow, the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation saw me on one of the tournaments where I had a good run. They believed in me, and a lot of other people in Kazakhstan believed in me and helped me on my way. I\u2019m very grateful. It\u2019s a history for the whole countr, and I just can\u2019t wait to go there and celebrate with all the people who follow me, who love me, and most importantly, people who believed in me from the very beginning.\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The 2026 season has been Rybakina\u2019s most successful to date. She has won the Australian Open and U.S. Open, and reached the finals at Indian Wells and Toronto. She is the first singles player to qualify for the 2026 WTA Finals, where she will defend her title.<\/p>\n

Rybakina\u2019s rise also marks a broader milestone for Kazakhstan\u2019s tennis development. The WTA noted that, as her career has progressed, more children across Kazakhstan have begun taking up the sport and attending new tennis facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always say there are so many kids that are coming to the tennis facilities. They all want to play tennis, which is a great thing. I just want to celebrate such an achievement for the country all together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ASTANA \u2014 Elena Rybakina has added another distinction to a landmark season, topping the Women\u2019s Tennis Association\u2019s 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-772085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}