It’s not about money for the unlikely U.S. Open finalists Leylah Fernandez and Emma Raducanu. But the money certainly won’t hurt.
Before the tournament, Fernandez had earned $786,772 in official prize money during her short career. Raducanu had earned $303,376 in her even shorter career, most of it from reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon in her Grand Slam debut in July.
Those numbers are about to change dramatically. The winner today will earn $2.5 million, the runner-up $1.25 million. Those figures do not account for the sponsorships and other commercial deals that Fernandez, a Canadian, and Raducanu, who is British, will most likely sign because of their attention-grabbing runs in New York.