The 2025 US Open Just Shattered a Prize Money Record

The men’s and women’s single winners at the 2025 US Open are about to make more money than anyone who’s followed the sport could have believed just a few short years ago.

And that makes sense. Tennis is more popular than ever across the United States. And the US Open, in particular, is the biggest tournament draw among the country’s fanbase. That should surprise…absolutely no one. The reason is in the name. No other tennis tournament that takes place in the United States receives more attention, reels in more fans, draws more eyeballs or generates more revenue.

This isn’t just a geographical thing, either. The U.S. Open joins the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon to make up the four Grand Slams, otherwise known as the four major tournaments of the sport. That gives it a default marquee appeal. Beyond this, though, the legalization of sports betting across the United States has paved the way for more interest.

There will be more investments in watching and attending when people have money at stake. And you only need to peruse US Open betting sites for a short time to understand how popular wagering on the tournament has become. The level of detail on many options is reaching levels typically reserved for Super Bowl prop betting.

Anyhow, it all serves to increase the popularity of the sport. And with that added popularity comes ridiculous amounts of revenue. The International Tennis Federation (ITF), which oversees Grand Slam tournaments like the US Open reported a total annual revenue of over $100 million in 2024, according to its official website.

That represented a clear year-over-year increase, and with that kind of generation, some of the money was bound to make its way back into the prize purses of the athletes. Which raises the question: Just how much money will the winners of the 2025 U.S. Open actually receive?

Yep, you are reading that correctly: The winners of the men’s and women’s singles tournaments will get $5 million apiece - the highest total in the history of the sport. What’s more, the entire prize pool will check in at a cool $85 million, which is also the highest in history.

Here is Matthew Futterman of The Athletic with the full details: "The 2025 U.S. Open will be the richest in history, with player prize money at the Grand Slam rising to $85 million (£63.8 million at the current rate) — significantly more than the other three major tennis tournaments: Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the French Open. This year’s purse delivers a 21 percent increase over 2024’s $70 million in prize money, which was itself a record."

"The $85 million figure represents just over 15 percent of the tournament’s $559.7 million (£420 million) operating revenue from a year ago, according to financial statements published by the United States Tennis Association (USTA). The total compensation pool, including money earmarked for hotel and food costs, which is not associated with performance, is $90 million. Last year’s total pool was $75 million."

Finalists in the singles divisions will receive $2.5 million a pop. Semifinalists will get $1.26 million, while quarterfinalists will earn $660,000. In the doubles department, the champions will receive $1 million each, and the runner-ups will take home $500,000 apiece.

Of course, though these figures represent upticks over last year (and historically), players still stand to make waaaay more money from their off-court ventures. This is true of virtually every sport, but the contrast is especially stark in tennis.

Not surprisingly, the prize pool has become a point of contention for the players. Big names will earn plenty through sponsorship and ambassadorship opportunities, but the middle- and lower-classes of pros don’t make out nearly as well.

This has prompted top-level stars to try negotiating newer, more lucrative structures with those who organize the tournaments. As Futterman writes: "The top men's and women's stars have hired former WTA chief executive Larry Scott to lobby the Grand Slams on their behalf, arranging meetings with tournament organizers to make their case. While the four majors tout their record prize money, the players point to a disparity of proportion: in U.S. team sports, such as the NFL, MLB and NBA, players receive closer to 50 percent of revenues."

"The figures for tennis are in the mid-teens. It also comes amid an antitrust lawsuit launched by the Professional Tennis Player Association (PTPA), the organization co-founded by 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in 2021. The original filing named the four Grand Slams as ‘co-conspirators’ to a ‘cartel’ comprising the men's and women's tours, the International Tennis Federation, and tennis' anti-doping authority, the ITIA."

For what it’s worth, the PTPA has acknowledged that discussions with organizing bodies are so far productive. And the noticeable prize pool increases for the US Open suggests it’s not impossible to continue finding a middle ground.

Still, the revenue sharing contrasts between tennis pros and those in team sports isn’t going anywhere. And with the international tennis crescendoing to a fever pitch in popularity, players will not suddenly back off their stance. If anything, the PTPA has more leverage than ever.

Live sports are now the only thing that consistently attracts eyeballs to legacy media networks. The US Open and other tournaments will continue to benefit from lucrative broadcast deals, significantly fattening up their bottom line unless something dramatically changes in the traditional-media landscape.

Just as NBA and MLB players have shown in the past, the powers at be will make real concessions at the bargaining table if you push them hard enough. Granted, this requires union alignment. The NFL, for instance, doesn’t have that.

The average career of players is too short for that type of long-term buy-in, and too many contracts are non-guaranteed. Tennis is in a similar situation. So many peoples’ livelihoods beyond the stars are tethered to constant participation.

And yet, if the latest attempts at rebrokering the prize pools and revenue sharing are any indication, the PTPA seemingly understands the value its members are driving. This, in turn, could open the door for an even stronger showing of force at the bargaining tables in the years to come.

For now, though, the PTPA gets to claim a pretty big victory. The U.S. Open prize pool has never been higher, and the growth of the sport at large lends itself to resetting compensation records on an annual basis.