Every player in the draw goes home with six figures
$140,000 for losing in the first round. That number has never existed in tennis before, and it applies to all 128 players in each main draw at Flushing Meadows this fortnight.
The US Open starts on Sunday with a total purse of $108 million, up from $90 million a year ago. That is 20% more in twelve months and 44% more than 2024, when the tournament paid out $75 million.
The singles champions take $5.5 million each, more than any Grand Slam has ever given a winner. Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka banked $5 million apiece for the same job last year. Beaten finalists get $2.8 million, semi-finalists $1.45 million, quarter-finalists $780,000.
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Tiley is not budging on revenue sharing
Craig Tiley took over as USTA chief executive last month. At a news conference on Saturday he closed the door on the model players have been pushing for, saying the federation will not tie prize money to what the tournament earns.
“We do not use that number as a way of calculating compensation, because it can be quite arbitrary from one event to the next,” Tiley told Front Office Sports. His preferred language is a fair share, spread across the calendar rather than concentrated in two weeks in New York.
As things stand the four majors return roughly 15% of revenue to players. The tour is pushing for 22% by 2030. The loudest names in the game have mostly framed the fight around players further down the rankings, the ones who cannot afford a full season, and the list of demands runs past prize money into pensions and living conditions during a major.
Ten players want a seat, and Pegula wants results
The USTA has launched a player support programme and a Grand Slam Player Advisory Council. Around 10 players have already put their names forward for it, per Tiley.
Jessica Pegula, world No 3 and a WTA players’ council member, likes the idea and is waiting to see what it produces. She told Front Office Sports on Friday that revenue sharing still strikes her as the cleanest answer, and that the new council might at least restart a conversation that has stalled.
Elsewhere: Wimbledon paid out around $87.5 million this season, the Australian Open $79.3 million, Roland Garros $71.7 million. The gap to New York is now more than $20 million.
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