Photo by FMT, CC by 1.0
Those competing in the upper echelon of tennis are well rewarded for their efforts, with many of the biggest names regularly featuring on lists of the world’s highest-paid athletes.
While endorsements remain hugely valuable, most player’s bread-and-butter remains the purses that events payout. Below, we breakdown the top five highest-paying tennis tournaments by prize money.
5 ATP Finals – $15.25m
The only non-Grand Slam on this list and the least prestigious, but still a valuable prize in its own right, the Nitto ATP Finals is the season-ending finale which has been won by many of tennis’s great names over the years.
Curiously, Rafael Nadal has never won the ATP’s showpiece event, but Novak Djokovic is a seven-time winner, while Roger Federer has claimed the title six times.
Despite just eight singles players being invited to participate (plus alternates) and a further eight doubles pairings, an enormous $15.25million prize pool was up online the line in Turin in 2024. Italy’s Jannik Sinner walked away with more than $4.88m of it for his undefeated title run.
4 Australian Open – $55.75m
The Australian Open has often been referred to as the Happy Slam and it’s no wonder with the first major tournament of the season coming in at number four on the list of total prize money.
There was AU$86.50m (equivalent to $55.75m in US) up for grabs at the 2024 edition of the event, when Sinner won the AU$3.15m winners cheque on the men’s side and Aryna Sabalenka claimed the women’s title for the second year in a row.
3 French Open – $56.58m
While Nadal has never tasted success in the Tour Finals, the Spanish legend has dominated the French Open, which is the second of four Grand Slams that make up this quintet.
Staged at Roland-Garros, in Paris, the French Open is the only Slam to take place on clay and the 2024 edition featured a whopping €53.48m in prize money, which is equivalent to $56.58m US.
Alcaraz claimed the French Open for the first time in June while Poland’s Iga Swiatek won her fourth women’s title in five years, with both players pocketing a cool €2.4m for their troubles.
2 Wimbledon – $63.78m
Arguably the most prestigious, but not the highest paying, Wimbledon comes in at number two on the list thanks to a total prize money of £50m in 2024.
Converted to $63.78m, Wimbledon’s total prize money is not to be sniffed at with Alcaraz and women’s singles winner Barbora Krejcikova well compensated to the tune of £2.7m for their triumphs earlier in the year.
That figure dwarfs the men’s cheque handed out at the first professional Wimbledon, in 1968, when Australian legend Rod Laver was paid just £2,000 for winning the singles crown.
1 US Open – $75m
They say everything is bigger in America so it is no surprise to see the US Open take number one in terms of total prize money with an eye-watering $75m total purse, eclipsing all the other Grand Slams.
The Flushing Meadows extravaganza is the final Slam of the season and one all players want to win. It’s safe to say 2024 winners Sinner and Sabalenka were laughing all the way to the bank with their $3.6m each.
