Tennis Prize Money Tracker: Which Player Has Earned the Most in 2025?

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4 days ago

With $4.54 million in tournament winnings, Aryna Sabalenka is this year's leader in tennis prize money through May 23. The women's world No. 1 lost the Australian Open final in January, but has since won the Miami Open and the Madrid Open, earning more than $1 million for each victory.
Carlos Alcaraz ranks second with $3.98 million in year-to-date on-court winnings. The four-time Grand Slam champion won two clay court Masters 1000 tournaments in Monte Carlo and Rome, banking more than $1 million at each event. Just 22 years old, Alcaraz is already eighth all-time in ATP career prize money, with a total of more than $40 million.
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The two Australian Open singles winners are lower on the list. American Madison Keys won her first major in Melbourne, good for a $2.2 million payday, but has not reached the final of any tournament since. Jannik Sinner won the same amount for his Australian Open win but accepted a three-month ban in a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency that put his season on pause from February through April.
Heading into the French Open, women occupy six of the top 10 spots on the prize money rankings. The tournament's total purse of roughly $63 million is divided equally between men and women, just like the other three Grand Slam events, which award the largest sums on the calendar aside from the tours' finals.
How does prize money work in tennis?
When tennis players participate in tournaments, they are compensated based on the round in which they lose, with payouts escalating somewhat exponentially as the player continues to win. A first-round loser at the 2025 Miami Open received $23,760, while the tournament runner-up won $598,000 and the champion $1.12 million.
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Singles draws generally pay out more money than doubles draws, but singles players also pad their earnings by participating in doubles at events that feature both formats.
The money at stake in different tournaments varies greatly. Throughout the year, there are 250-level, 500-level and 1000-level events; the number refers to how many ranking points winners receive. Tournaments with more points on the line generally pay more money.
Which tennis tournament has the highest prize money?
The four majors—the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open—award 2,000 ranking points. They also have larger purses.
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For instance, the 2024 U.S. Open allocated $3.6 million to each singles winner, while the 2024 Winston-Salem Open, an ATP 250 event, dished out $107,000 to its champion the prior week. Many pros also compete on the Challenger Tour, where players typically take home low five figures for winning an event.
Although the ATP Finals and WTA Finals at the end of the calendar draw much less public attention than the majors, they are extremely lucrative for the exclusive group of eight participants. In fact, the $4.9 million that Sinner earned for winning the 2024 ATP Finals is nearly the total he made for winning the 2024 Australian Open ($2 million) and the 2024 U.S. Open ($3.6 million) combined.
Do men make more than women in tennis?
Last year, 15 women and 28 men earned at least $2 million. The four majors have all paid both genders equally since 2007, but many marquee events in which men and women both play simultaneously still pay men far more. For instance, the Cincinnati Open paid out approximately $6.8 million to male players in 2024 and just $3.2 million to female players, while prize money disparities at lower-level tournaments are even worse.
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In 2022, Iga Świątek was so dominant on the court that she nearly became the first woman to be the highest-paid tennis player in a single season since 2003, when Kim Clijsters ($4.47 million) out-earned Roger Federer ($4 million). In 2024, however, the gender pay gap at the top of the sport was still as large as it had been a decade prior. The top 10 male players collectively earned $80.7 million in 2024, 41% more than the $57.4 million earned by the top 10 female players.
In the global professional sports landscape, tennis still offers the most earning potential for women, as six of the 10 highest-paid female athletes in 2024 played tennis. Many tournaments have committed to offering equal pay in the future, but there is still much work to be done to close the gap overall.
Male tennis stars also benefit significantly from ATP bonus pools, which share additional profits with the game's top players, with payouts are predicated on year-end ranking and participation in a certain number of 1000-level tournaments. The pool ballooned to $21.3 million in 2023, where it remained for 2024.
Which tennis player has the most prize money?
For both genders, tennis is dominated financially by the elites. Last year, Sinner earned nearly five times that of the 10th highest-paid man, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Sabalenka earned more than three times that of the 10th highest-paid woman, Emma Navarro.
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The ATP Finals and WTA Finals both had purses exceeding $14 million last year. These tournaments only include the top eight players in the rankings, which contributes to the top-heavy prize money distribution in tennis. They are essentially 'rich get richer' events to end the season.
Novak Djokovic has won a record 24 Grand Slams along with seven ATP Tour Finals, with inflation giving him an additional boost over older players. He holds four of the top 10 prize money seasons of all time and has a $50 million lead over Rafael Nadal for the most career winnings. Djokovic's lifetime prize money totals $187 million.
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