By Field Level Media<\/p>\n
Aug 30 (Field Level Media) \u2013 The United States Tennis Association has answered player demands for greater compensation with record-breaking prize money at the U.S. Open that starts on Sunday in Flushing, N.Y.<\/p>\n
The creation of a new player support program and the Grand Slam Player Advisory Council also has been received positively. One issue at \u200bthe heart of any upcoming discussions, however \u2014 a larger revenue share from Grand Slam tournaments \u2014 appears to be a \u200cnon-starter for the USTA.<\/p>\n
Craig Tiley, who officially became USTA CEO last month, said at a press conference on Saturday that the grand slam tournament does not determine prize money based on revenue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t use that number as a form of calculating how we compensate, because it can be fairly arbitrary from one event to another,\u201d Tiley said, per Front Office Sports. \u201cI believe the tours use profit, so we look at it very differently. We say, what\u2019s a fair share \u200cthat the \u200bplayers need to be compensated on, and what can we do, because even outside \u2060of just the compensation package, what other \u2060things can we do to help support the players, not just during the event but also year-round.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. Open has boosted the prize pool by 20%, including a Grand Slam-record $5.5 million to this year\u2019s singles champions. The overall compensation is a record $108 million, up from $90 million last year and a whopping 44% jump from $75 million in 2024.<\/p>\n
Every player who makes the 128-player main \u200bsingles draw will earn at least $140,000, the largest in tennis history. Quarterfinalists will earn $780,000 and semifinalists will get $1.45 million, with $2.8 million going to the runners-up.<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s champions \u2014 Spain\u2019s Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus \u2014 each earned a winner\u2019s check of $5 million.<\/p>\n
By comparison, the \u2060prize pools for the other 2026 Grand Slam tournaments were: Wimbledon (about $87.5 million), \u2060French Open (about $71.7 million) and the Australian Open (about $79.3 million).<\/p>\n
According to Front Office Sports, Grand Slam tournaments don\u2019t have \u200ba fixed share of revenue in place, instead generally paying out about 15% of revenue to players.<\/p>\n
The players, however, are targeting a 22% \u200bshare by 2030. Top players have said that the goal of higher Grand Slam purses is to help \u200clower-ranked players who are trying to start or sustain their careers.<\/p>\n
Also among the players\u2019 demands are improved retirement benefits and a better focus on player welfare during the two-week Grand Slams.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will see the U.S. Open continue to be a very player-friendly event,\u201d Tiley said Saturday, per Front Office Sports. \u201cI think our desire to increase the amount that we put on the table was driven really within the organization, \u2060the sense that we need to give the players a fair share.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jessica Pegula, the No. 3 women\u2019s singles player in the world, told Front Office Sports on Friday that revenue sharing will be a key topic for the Grand Slam Advisory Council.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s something we\u2019re still \u2060pushing for, and so I think hopefully with \u200cthis council, that we\u2019ll be able to continue those discussions because I know from our side, \u2060we still do believe that a revenue share is the best way, and now we\u2019ll just \u200bhave much \u200cmore open communication,\u201d said Pegula, a member of the WTA Players\u2019 Council.<\/p>\n
She lauded the USTA \u200bfor creating the \u2060new council but said Friday that more information is needed. Tiley said on Saturday that about 10 players have expressed interest in joining the council.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think, again, the voice of the players, we believe, is important,\u201d Tiley said, per Front Office Sports. \u201cMany of us have been spending a lot of time and energy individually talking to the players. Not just the last week \u2014 it\u2019s been going on for years. The Slams having a close player relationship is critical to the success of the Slams and the success of the relationship that we have with \u200bthe fans, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
(\u2013Field Level Media)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Field Level Media Aug 30 (Field Level Media) \u2013 The United States Tennis Association has answered player…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-830763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}