The US Open will see a massive increase in prize money for its winners this year. On Wednesday, the tournament announced a significant upgrade in prize money, with the New York City showcase being the first competition to reach $90 million in player compensation.
Following the $70 million prize money set in 2024, which established a record, the tournament is seeing a 21% increase in the purse this year. The staggering amount of money to compete for is only a 15% fraction of the tournament’s $559.7 million revenue, according to the US Open site.
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The singles winners for the men’s and women’s tournaments will take the largest winning payout in tennis, each pocketing $5 million, which is a 39% bump from the $3.6 million prize in 2024.
Prize money did not just grow for the title winners but also for other participants:
The upgraded purse will compensate runners-up ($2.5 million, up 39%), semi-finalists ($1.26 million, up 26%), quarter-finalists ($660,000, up 25%) and Round of 16 competitors ($400,000, up 23%). This materialized after years of a strategic focus on redistribution to provide significant payouts to all participants.
Aside from increasing the prize money, the US Open also looked to lower the out-of-pocket expenses for players.
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Competitors will be given a $1,000 travel stipend and two rooms in the player hotel or $600 per day if they opt to stay elsewhere. Players can also avail free racquet stringing of up to five racquets per pound. These accommodations total $5 million toward player support.
The US Open’s prize money significantly dwarfs the other majors, with Wimbledon paying $72.7 million, the French Open paying $65.4 million and the Australian Open paying $62.9 million across all players.
Before the increase, a handful of players raised concerns about their share of tournament revenues. Tennis’ top players hired WTA chief executive Larry Scott to speak to the Grand Slam event organizers on their behalf. The players were fighting to receive a bigger portion of the tournament revenues. While team sports in the US give players close to 50% of the profit, tennis players generally receive between 15% and 20% of Grand Slam revenue, according to The New York Times.
Additionally, the Professional Tennis Players Association, led by Novak Djokovic, has filed an antitrust lawsuit, naming the four Grand Slams as “co-conspirators” to a “cartel” encompassing the men’s and women’s tours, the International Tennis Federation, and the International Tennis Integrity Agency.
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The PTPA shared that it is having “productive discussions” with the four majors, which resulted in their removal from the updated complaint filed in June. Since then, the ATP and WTA have filed to dismiss the lawsuit.
The US Open will be played at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York, from August 24 to September 7.