The finalists for the 2026 WTA Finals have finally been decided. On one side is 19-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who hasn’t dropped a set and has bulldozed past all her opponents so far. She will be taking on Elina Svitolina, who has reached the final of the year-end tournament for the third time. The match is expected to be quite a close affair and a must-watch for the fans. However, unlike the other tournaments where either of the winners receives the same amount in prize money, the case is a little different in this case.

Turns out that the WTA Finals awards the money according to the number of matches a player has won. The player only receives a participation fee of $220,000 if she fails to win any of her matches. In this case, while Andreeva has won all four of her matches so far, Svitolina suffered a crushing 6-4, 6-0 defeat to the Russian in the group stage. This loss means that the Ukrainian will get less money than Andreeva if she wins the title.

The total prize money pool at the 2026 WTA Finals stands at $10,000,000. It is approximately a 35% decrease from the pool of $15,500,000 that was offered last year. If Andreeva goes on to lift the title undefeated, then she will receive the full payout of $3,370,000. On the other hand, Svitolina will receive $3,140,000 if she wins the title because of the loss she recorded in her opening match.

Here is how the full breakdown of the prize money goes. Players receive $230,000 for each of their victories in the group stage. A player gets an extra $820,000 for winning the semifinal on top of their participation and group-stage fees. Winning the final adds a further $1,640,000 to the player’s prize money.

The maximum payout for this year is also approximately 35% lower than it was last year. The WTA decided the payout to be $5,235,000 if a player won the tournament undefeated last year. Elena Rybakina went on to achieve the feat and got the massive payout.

Coming back, the final between Andreeva and Svitolina appears to be quite hard to predict. The 19-year-old leads the H2H record 2-1, but the Ukrainian has gathered momentum by winning her last three matches. She also got the better of Andreeva earlier this season in the Round of 16 at the Australian Open.

On top of this, Svitolina has much more experience than Andreeva when it comes to the WTA Finals. The veteran lifted the coveted title in 2018 by defeating Sloane Stephens in the final. She reached the final again in 2019, but came up short against Ashleigh Barty. However, Andreeva is the one who is in better form at the moment and could become one of the youngest players to ever win the WTA Finals.

While there is a lot of anticipation around the final, many will also be paying attention to how Svitolina reacts after the match. This is because she snubbed Andreeva of the post-match handshake in their previous encounter at the tournament. It is likely that the same will happen in the final as well.

Elina Svitolina is likely to avoid the customary handshake against Mirra Andreeva in the final

Svitolina shook hands with the chair umpire and walked off the court following the defeat to Andreeva in the first match. The latter also didn’t initiate the handshake and waved to the crowd instead. The same is expected to happen in the final as Svitolina continues to maintain her stance of not shaking hands with Russian players.

The 32-year-old has been deeply affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As a result, she has refused to shake hands with Russian players ever since the conflict began in 2022. This is expected to be the reason why the WTA recently broke one of its long-standing traditions, where the eight qualifiers surround the trophy while wearing formal outfits and smile for the camera a few days before the tournament.

Prominent tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg suspected that the WTA broke the tradition because of Svitolina’s stance of not posing for photos with both Russians and Belarusians.

“A group photo would’ve been off the table because of Svitolina’s longstanding refusal to pose for photos with Russians or Belarusians since the invasion began,” he wrote on X.

While the customary handshake may not take place, the fans still have a must-watch encounter on their hands. Will the young Andreeva lift the WTA Finals title on her debut appearance, or will Svitolina’s experience and determination help her win the tournament for the second time? We will have to wait and see.