Coudl Korea’s badminton sensation, Ahn Se-young, be on the verge of shattering her own earnings record? The world No. 1 is set to compete in the 2025 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Australian Open, a Super 500 event kicking off on June 18th in Sydney. This tournament presents a golden prospect for Ahn to not only add another title to her already stellar season but also to push her career prize money past the 3.6 billion won mark.
ahn’s path to a potential 10th title this year begins with a first-round match against New Zealand’s Saunna Lee, currently ranked 166th globally. Should she advance, a second-round clash awaits against the winner of the match between Taiwan’s Dong Chu-tung (world No. 66) and Yuan Hsueh (world No. 98).
This season has been nothing short of historic for Ahn Se-young. She has already clinched an incredible nine titles,including three prestigious ‘Super 1000’ events: the Malaysia Open,All England Open,and Indonesia Open. Adding to her dominance, she secured five ‘Super 750’ titles at the India open, Japan Open, China Open, Denmark Open, and French Open, along with the ‘super 300’ Orleans Masters. A victory at the Australian Open woudl mark her 10th title of the year, setting a new benchmark for women’s singles achievements.
The field at the Australian Open has been significantly thinned, with several of Ahn’s strongest rivals opting out.Akane Yamaguchi (Japan, world No. 3), the reigning World Champion, has withdrawn. Furthermore, China’s formidable trio of wang Zhiyi (world No. 2),Han Yue (world No. 4), and Chen Yufei (world No. 5) are unavailable as they are participating in their nation’s National Sports Festival. Other notable absences include Olympic bronze medalist pusala Sindhu (India, world No. 13), Singapore’s yeo amin (world No. 14), Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (world No. 11), and Japan’s rising star Tomoka Miyazaki (world No. 8).
With such a depleted field, Ahn Se-young is widely considered the heavy favorite to claim the Australian Open women’s singles title. The total prize money for the event is a significant $475,000 (approximately 695 million won). Should Ahn emerge victorious, she will pocket $35,625 (around 52.11 million won) in prize money.
The financial rewards don’t stop there. The year-end World Tour Finals, scheduled for December 17th, offers a grand prize of $240,000 (about 351 million won). Currently, Ahn Se-young’s cumulative career prize money stands at an impressive $2,227,341 (approximately 3.258 billion won). If she manages to win both the Australian open and the World tour Finals,her total earnings will soar past the 3.6 billion won milestone, cementing her status not only as a dominant force on the court but also as one of the highest-earning athletes in badminton history.
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