It has been revealed that the winners of the upcoming Australian Open will receive more than $1 Million (Australian dollars) less than what they would have won this year at the same event.
The prize money breakdown for the Melbourne major has been leaked online with SuperTennis journalist Luca Fiorino publishing the figures in full. Despite there still being a significant prize pool at the event, changes have been made to how the funds are distributed among the players. Like other tournaments, a higher proportion of the money will go to those who lose during the earlier rounds. The logic being that lower ranked players has been the most affected financially by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the changes, the 2021 men’s and women’s champions will take home $2,750,000 in earnings which is a 33% drop on 2020 ($4,120,000). There will also be a year-on-year cut of 27% and 18% applied to those who reach the final and semifinals. The only round where there has been no changes concerns the quarter-finals with the reward being $525,000 for both 2020 and 2021. The decision to cut pay to the champions will also be applied to the doubles tournaments.
At the other end of the spectrum, the biggest increase (in terms of percentage) will be the third round with the reward increasing by 19% from $180,000 to $215,000. There are also increases of over 10% for the first two rounds.
In the qualifying tournaments, players will also get a boost. Due to the pandemic, the qualifying events will be held outside Australia for the first time in history. The men will play in Doha and women in Dubai. Those who lost in the first round will receive $25,000 instead of $20,000. In the next two rounds there will be rises of 8% and 5%. There will also be a new financial incentive for lucky losers with each of them receiving a payment of $10,000 for the first time.
Due to government rules, players arriving in Australia will have to go into quarantine for 14 days before they are allowed to play professional tournaments. Although they will be permitted to train during that period. As a consequence, the Grand Slam has been delayed until February 8th. Making it the first time the event will take place during the second month of a year for more than 100 years.
Novak Djokovic and Sofia Kenin are the defending champions.
