Coco Gauff's biggest payday in tennis came at the WTA Finals in Riyadh when she defeated Zheng Qinwen 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) to earn a cheque of $4.805m.

The 20-year-old collected an incredible $9,353,847 in prize money during the 2024 tennis, which is the seventh-biggest total during a single season in WTA Tour history.

Before the final, the American's earnings for the 2024 WTA Tour season stood at $4,548,847 as she had collected $4,075,987 in singles and $472,860 in doubles.

But Gauff's participation fee ($335,000), two group wins ($700,000), semi-final win ($1,270,000) and victory in the final ($2,500,000) earned her a total of $4.805m as she more than doubled her prize money for the campaign.

"I didn't know, like I knew it was some money, but I didn't know that much," Gauff said.

The American added: "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."

So how will she spend the money?

"Oh it means a lot to me… I have bought a house… I'm going to a music festival next week," Gauff said. "So, I don't know, 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…"

How much money and points did Coco Gauff, Zheng Qinwen and Aryna Sabalenka earn at the 2024 WTA Finals?

With the $9,353,847, the 2023 US Open champion broke through the $20m barrier for career earnings as she has now earned $21,581,989 in total since turning professional in 2018.

Her previous best earnings season was in 2023 when she won $6,669,622.

Gauff's total of $21,581,989 saw her move up to 23rd in the all-time list as she surpassed seven-time Grand Slam winner Justine Henin, who is on $20,863,335.

But she is not too far away from cracking the top 20 as Martina Navratilova ($21,626,089), Steffi Graff ($21,895,277) and Naomi Osaka ($22,047,163) and Lindsay Davenport ($22,166,338) are within striking distance.

Serena Williams remains well clear at No 1 with $94,816,730 with sister Venus second on $42,648,578 and Simona Halep third with $40,229,773 while current world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka has moved up to No 10 with $30,106,823 while Iga Swiatek is at No 8 with $33,141,991.