Coco Gauff, new French Open champion, takes home 6.25% more prize money than last year's winner Iga Swiatek
Coco Gauff's incredible rise at the top of women's tennis continued as she added a second Grand Slam title to her name, with a memorable win over top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the Roland Garros final. Gauff is in for a windfall, not just in terms of rankings points as she improves on her semifinal appearance in 2024, but also in prize money.
Her 6-7 6-2 6-4 come-from-behind victory over world number one Sabalenka means 20-year-old Gauff is set to receive a winner's cheque of a whopping 2.550 million euros. The American sensation was one of the highest-paid female athletes in the world in 2024, and her purse will continue to grow following a strong start to the season in the grand slams.
Gauff's total earnings from her run in Paris earns her 150,000 euros more than what Iga Swiatek received for winning this tournament in 2024. The total prize pool for the entirety of the French Open, across both singles draws and all the doubles and juniors events, is 56.352 million euros, marking a 5.37% increase from 2024.
In the singles alone, Gauff's prize money indicates a 6.25% increase on Swiatek's earning of 2.4 million euros in 2024.
While Sabalenka couldn't get her hands on a French Open title despite upsetting Iga Swiatek in the semifinal, she won't be too disappointed with the bank bonus she too is receiving, taking home 1.275 million euros herself. A career-best result in Paris for the Belarusian, but back to the drawing board after falling short both at the Australian Open and now on Court Phillipe Chartrier.
Winner: EUR 2,550,000
Runner-up: EUR 1,275,000
Semi-finalists: EUR 690,000
Meanwhile, the semi-finalists received 690,000 euros, with Swiatek and French local breakthrough star Lois Boisson receiving that amount. A life-changing amount of money for Boisson, who managed to go all the way to the semifinals in her first ever main draw appearance at any Grand Slam tournament, and that coming at her home slam.
Nothing to sniff at for the American Gauff, who takes home the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen, 2000 WTA ranking points to try and compete for the number one title towards the end of this season, and a hefty chunk of the prize money she will be able to call her own.
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Anindya Dutta is a sports columnist and author of 'Wizards: The Story of Indian Spin Bowling' and 'Advantage India: The Story of Indian Tennis'. He tweets @Cric_Writer. Views are personal. (Edited by Ratan Priya)
