Coco Gauff has surpassed the $10 million earnings mark following her victory at the US Open, which was also her maiden Grand Slam title win.

At just 19 years old, Gauff's sporting successes have taken her over the 10 million dollar line in terms of earnings. This came after she made $3 million from winning the last major of the year in New York.

The American faced second seed and current World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final. Although her opponent started out strong, winning the first set 2-6, Gauff fought back hard in front of her home crowd to emerge victorious from the match 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

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Earnings milestone comes after equal pay anniversary

This milestone comes just after the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of equal prize money at the US Open. This began in 1973 after tennis legend Billie Jean King won the tournament the previous year and earned $15,000 less than her male counterpart. 

As a result, the former World No. 1 threatened to boycott the next year's Slam if equal pay was not offered. She also met with the then-tournament organizer Billy Talbert and revealed that she had negotiated a sponsorship grant with the deodorant brand Ban. The US Open then became the first major to offer equal prize money, with the other Slams following suit across the next three and a half decades.

Gauff acknowledged and thanked King, who was in attendance at Arthur Ashe to watch the young player's victory, for her fight for pay equity as she received her winner's cheque.

"Thank you, Billie, for fighting for this," she said.

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However, equal pay is still not offered at WTA tournaments, with Gauff's recent victory at the WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open earning her almost four million dollars less than the amount Novak Djokovic received for his victory on the ATP side of the tournament.

This unequal prize money is reflected in some of the other top-ranked players' earnings. When the Forbes list of highest-earning tennis players in 2023 was released at the end of August, fans pointed out that while two-time men's singles Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz earned $11.4 million on the court, the four-time women's singles major champion Iga Swiatek earned $8.4 million in prize money.