The U.S. Open will once again offer the largest total prize pool in tennis history when it begins in New York later this month.
The USTA announced Wednesday it will distribute $90 million to players, a 20 percent increase from the $75 million it offered last season. It also puts the U.S. Open far ahead of the other three Grand Slams, as Wimbledon distributed roughly $71 million, the French Open $65.5 million and the Australian Open approximately $63 million this year.
This year’s men’s and women’s singles champions will each make $5 million, up from the $3.6 million that Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka took home last year.
According to the USTA, the increase in prize money includes “double-digit percentage increases from 2024 in all rounds of all events for all players.”
Notably, that includes the new-look mixed doubles event that will take place at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center the week before the singles main draw. In an attempt to incentivize top singles players to play mixed doubles, the USTA is offering a $1 million prize to the winning team and $400,000 to the runners-up in a shortened 16-team format.
The mixed doubles entry list includes eight of the top-10 men’s players and six of the top-10 women, with two more teams still to be awarded wildcard entry.
The prize money increase comes at a time when some players have questioned whether they are getting a fair share of the revenues created by the pro tennis tours and the Grand Slams.
“I’m just going to state a fact,” Novak Djokovic said at a news conference earlier this year in Australia. “The pie split between the governing bodies in major sports, all major American sports like NFL, NBA, baseball, NHL, is 50 percent. Maybe more, maybe less, but around 50 percent. Ours is way lower than that.”
While the Grand Slams offer by far the biggest purses – for many lower-ranked singles players, just getting in the main U.S. Open draw and losing in the first round is worth $110,000, often representing the bulk of their prize money for the year – reporting in the Athletic earlier this year showed that players earn somewhere in the teens as a percentage of total revenue generated by the four biggest tournaments.
The Professional Tennis Players Association, an organization co-founded by Djokovic, filed an antitrust lawsuit earlier this year against the sports’ governing bodies, including the ATP and WTA.
US Open prize money pool breakdown
Men’s and women’s singles champion $5 million
Runner up $2.5 million
Semifinals $1.26 million
Quarterfinals $660,000
Round of 16 $400,000
Round of 32 $237,000
Round of 64 $154,000
Round of 128 $110,000
Men’s and women’s doubles
Champion $1 million
Runners-up $500,000
Semifinals $250,000
Quarterfinals $125,000
Round of 16 $75,000
Round of 32 $45,000
Round of 64 $30,000
Mixed doubles
Champion $1 million
Runners-up $400,000
Semifinals $200,000
Quarterfinals $100,000
Round of 16 $20,000
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US Open tennis prize money pool increases to record $90 million
