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Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula, along with their fellow podcast hosts, made their feelings known about Elena Rybakina's record-breaking earnings at the WTA Finals 2025. The Kazakh secured a $5,235,000 paycheck for winning the year-end championships, the most a female player has earned from a single tournament in the history of the sport.
Keys and Pegula, along with fellow pros Desirae Krawczyk and Jennifer Brady, discussed Rybakina's performance and prize money haul on the latest episode of their podcast, The Player's Box Podcast.
Pegula kicked off the conversation, bringing up Rybakina's strong finish to the season. Keys concurred with her compatriot. Pegula even faced Rybakina in the semifinals of the WTA Finals, so she personally experienced her dominance at the tournament. She was particularly in awe of her serving stats.
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"Someone ended their year very well. Rybakina won. She beat Aryna 6-3, 7-6 (0) in the (WTA) Finals," Pegula said.
"She had an insane couple of weeks," Keys agreed.
"She hit 13 aces and won 67 percent of her first serves. She was serving like a joke," Pegula added.
Keys also highlighted Rybakina's results in the lead-up to the WTA Finals. Pegula then chimed in how the Kazakh was able to claim the record prize money on offer since she won the WTA Finals while being undefeated during the group stage.
"She won Ningbo, she semied Tokyo, and then just won the year-end," Keys said.
"And then she went undefeated. She won undefeated and she wins $5.2 million," Pegula said.
Madison Keys playfully remarked she was jealous of Rybakina's insane earnings, while her fellow hosts agreed amidst bouts of laughter. Brady suggested that Rybakina could unwind in Maldives, where most pros head during the off-season.
"We're jealous" Keys said.
"I wonder where she's vacationing. I wonder if she's going to the Maldives with the rest of the tour" Brady said.
Madison Keys and Pegula also participated in the WTA Finals. The former went out in the group stage, though she abandoned her campaign due to illness after two matches, while the latter lost to Rybakina in the semifinals. The two Americans still managed to finish the season within the top 10.
Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula both finish 2025 within the top 10 of the WTA rankings
Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula enjoyed considerable success in 2025. The stage for their success was set at the Adelaide International, where Keys beat Pegula in the final. She would later go on to claim her maiden Major title at the Australian Open.
Pegula won three titles this year, with the biggest of them coming at the WTA 500 events in Charleston and Bad Homburg. She also finished as the runner-up at the Miami Open and the Wuhan Open, both WTA 1000 tournaments.
Madison Keys finished the year ranked No. 7, the second top 10 finish of her career and her best year-end ranking. Pegula was ranked one place ahead of her at No. 6, making it her fourth consecutive finish in the top 10.
