Lower-ranked players receive a substantial lift after the US Open increased its total prize fund to $108m, a 20% rise from last year. The tournament raised the singles champion payout to $5.5m each, a 10% increase on 2025, and pushed first-round prize money to $140,000, which is $30,000 and 27% more than last year.
The announced pool also includes a $2m contribution to a welfare fund, a change players and their representatives have demanded across the Grand Slams. Tournament organisers said money for the new US Open player support programme will be placed in an independent holding account while officials and players work through the programme’s details, and the newly formed Grand Slam Player Council will have input into the arrangements.
The four Grand Slam tournaments jointly announced the council, a response to a key push from players who limited some media duties at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon to press their case. Organisers said the council will launch after the US Open "with a focus on player input into sporting matters at the four Grand Slam tournaments", and players have been invited to apply to serve.
Player representatives had also sought each Grand Slam contribute $4m in benefit payments this year. The USTA is the first to ring-fence that money for players, but officials said it will come from the overall prize fund rather than additional revenue. The US Open kept the mixed doubles winners’ share at $1m, while boosting lower-round payments and doubling first-round money for mixed doubles entrants.
Questions remain over how the increase compares to players’ revenue-share targets. The players’ demand that each Grand Slam devote 16% of revenue to prize money, rising to 22% by 2030, may have been met, but the USTA has not yet published its 2025 financial statement. If the 2024 revenue of $559.7m rose 10% this year, prize money of $98.5m would align with player expectations, one assessment notes. The USTA says the financial statement will be published before the start of the main draw.
USTA chief executive Craig Tiley called the package "a significant first step in a multi-year investment in athletes". Player representatives "welcomed" the announcements and noted the "substantial increase" in prize money. "Players look forward to building on today's positive announcements and ensuring the Council develops into a genuinely representative and effective forum for player consultation, while continuing to work through their representatives on prize money and player welfare," their statement read. The US Open begins on Sunday, 30 August.
