The US Open 2025 – which has just seen the victory of Errani and Vavassori in the mixed doubles, with a prize of $ 1 million – will have the richest prize pool ever for a tennis tournament. 90 million dollars (equivalent to 77 million euros), divided as follows: 85 of Prize Money (i.e. prizes linked to sports results) plus 5 million for the living expenses of the players. All the voices of the Major New York, scheduled from Sunday 24 August to 7 September, have increased compared to the 2024 edition and are drastically higher compared to the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon “competitors”, so much so that the loser Flushing Meadows finalist will hit more than the Melbourne Park winner, respectively the last and first SLAM of the tennis season.
How much will the players turn round for turn: the comparison between Slam and the historian of the US Open
On the weekend of 6-7 September, the new samples of the singular scoreboards (the prisoners of the titles are Jannik Sinner in the male and Aryna Sabalenka in the female) will get 5 million each: it is the highest prize pool reserved for a single athlete in the history of tennis. Officially. The clarification is necessary, since the new Six Kings Slam tournament in Saudi Arabia (which has announced the participants for a few weeks for its second edition in the autumn) comes to offer six for the winner after a journey of only three games.
Historically the US Open, financed by the Usta (United States Tennis Association) is the richest of the four Slam. As the American association itself explains, the increase of 2025 compared to the last edition is “The result of years of strategic attention to the redistribution of prizes in the first rounds and in qualifying tournaments to ensure significant winnings for all players“Although the most significant increase is recorded in the final stages of the competition, for example, from +39% for winners and finalists to +26 and 25% for semi -finalists and fourth fourthists. For the first time, moreover, the double (male, female and mixed champion) will collect a one million dollar prize. As if that was not enough, the help to the players extends to the 5 million expected expenses: each player. It will receive a contribution of 1,000 dollars for travel expenses, and will have two rooms in official hotels. Travel, hotels and personal staff all year round, become fundamental.
Analyzing the historical increase, the total prize pool of the US Open has increased by 113% in the last 10 years (it was $ 42,253,400 in 2015). The current prize (5 million) reserved for singular winners, however, corresponds to the entire Prize Money which was made available by the Usta in 1993. Crazy.
Equality between men and women: the US Open was the precursor
The US Open was the first Slam to offer equal prize pool between men and women: in 1973, thanks to the battles of Billie Jean King and his threat of boycott, the winners of the singular John Newcombe and Margaret Court brought home $ 25,000 each. In 2001 the Australians also aligned Melbourne, while 2007 had to wait for Roland Garros and Wimbledon. In the rest of the year, the tournaments of the two circuits “pay” their participants with very different figures, as shown by the checks detached from Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek, fresh champion of the Masters 1000 of Cincinnati: more than one million the Spaniard, 750,000 dollars the Polish for the same number of games until the final.
