How Much Do Professional Tennis Players Make?
Contents
A look at how much money professional tennis players make in prize money, endorsements, and other earnings.
Salaries of professional tennis players
Salaries of professional tennis players can range from a few hundred dollars to millions of dollars per year. The average salary for a professional tennis player is around $50,000 per year. However, the top players in the world can earn much more than that. For example, Novak Djokovic, the world’s top-ranked tennis player, earned $23.5 million in prize money in 2020.
The four Grand Slam tournaments
The Grand Slam tournaments, also called the majors, are the four most important annual tennis events. They offer the most ranking points, prize money, public and media attention, the greatest strength and size of field, and greater number of best of sets for men. The Grand Slam itinerary consists of the Australian Open in mid-January, the French Open around late May through early June, Wimbledon in June-July, and the US Open in August-September. Each tournament is played over two weeks. The ATP Tour are the Association of Tennis Professionals major tournament circuit cups.
ATP World Tour
The ATP World Tour is the global men’s professional tennis circuit organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for the most part of the year. The ATP World Tour includes the four Grand Slam tournaments, the ATP Masters 1000, the ATP Championship Series, Single week tournaments and Team event tournaments.
In general, prize money for singles tournament winners is much greater than it is for doubles tournament winners. Prize money earned by a player in a single week cannot exceed $150,000 USD. Minimum payout for an ATP tour event is $145,000 USD.
WTA Tour
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) is the main governing body for women’s professional tennis. The WTA Tour is the global professional tennis circuit organized by the WTA. The 2016 WTA Tour calendar comprises 49 tournaments, with players competing for a record-breaking $146 million in prize money. The tour includes four Grand Slam tournaments, eight PremierMandatory tournaments, thirteen Premier5 tournaments and twenty-two International-level tournaments.
Prize money
Professional tennis is one of the highest earning sports in the world. In 2017, the prize money for Wimbledon was a record breaking ��31.6 million. Of that, ��1.88 million went to the men’s and women’s singles champions. So how does that compare to other grand slams?
The four Grand Slam tournaments
The Grand Slam tournaments, also called majors, are the four most important annual tennis events. They offer the most ranking points, prize money, public and media attention, the greatest strength and size of field, and greater number of “best of” sets for men. The Grand Slam itinerary consists of the Australian Open in mid January, the French Open around late May or early June, Wimbledon in June–July, and the US Open in August–September. Each tournament is played over two weeks. In contrast to the other Major tournaments, Wimbledon shares equal footing with the others when it comes to prize money.
The Australian Open is played on hard courts at Melbourne Park and was first held in 1905. Since 1988 it has been played in a retractable-roof stadium, making it one of only four Grand Slams to be played indoors (the other three being Roland Garros, US Open and Arthur Ashe Stadium at Flushing Meadows). The tournament was first known as the Australasian Championships and then became the Australian Championships before assuming its current name when play shifted to Melbourne Park in 1988.
The prize money for 2019 was increased by 10% compared to 2018 – with AUD$60 million (US$42 million) on offer across all events – AUD$4.1 million (US$2.9 million) for each of the singles champions. First-round losers at Melbourne Park will pocket AUD$48,000 while second-round losers will bank AUD$80,000 – up from AUD$43,000 and AUD$72,000 respectively last year. prizemoney AustralianOpen 2019 breakdown: https://www….
The French Open (Roland Garros) is a major tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament is held over two weeks between late May and early June, and it is the second of four annual Grand Slam tournaments following Australia’s lead. Unlike Wimbledon or Australia’s mixed surface (hard & grass), all French Open matches are played on red clay surfaces – Paris’ unique contribution to tennis grandeur. The event was first held in 1891 as a one-day competition with five events – Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles , Mixed Doubles , Women’s Singles , Women’s Doubles . Today there are 12 events: Men & Women Singles , Men & Women Doubles , Mixed Doubles , Junior & Wheelchair . The total prize money fund for 2019 has been increased by 6% compared to 2018 – rising from €32 million (US$36m) to €34 million (US $38m). Of this amount 60% goes towards player prizes with 30% directed towards expenses & 10% going into development projects administered by the FFT . breakdown: https://www…./
Wimbledon is widely considered as tennis’ most prestigious event due largely to its illustrious history dating back 149 years – longer than any other Major tournament currently in existence including such venerable sporting events as cricket’s Ashes test series which dates back to 1882 or golf’s British Open which started eight years later in 1860. It is also one of only four Majors still contested on natural grass courts – something that adds greatly to its unique character & tradition but causes some scheduling headaches for today’s jet-setting superstars who have grown accustomed playing almost exclusively on synthetic surfaces throughout most of the year leading up to Wimbledon . This historic event takes place every year during the last 2 weeks in June at SW19 , just south west of Central London . breakdown: https://www…/
The US Open Tennis Championships is a hard court tennis tournament held annually towards late August / early September at Flushing Meadows – Corona Park in Queens , New York City . First contested 125 years ago back in 1881 on grass courts at Newport Casino in Rhode Island before moving 20 years later to its current home where it has been staged ever since 1897 with only 3 exceptions – 1915–1919 due to World War I & II respectively & Forest Hills from 1924 until 1978 as Flushing Meadows was being renovated / developed into today’s massive complex that now features 4 main stadiums capable of holding 42 thousand fans along with over 100 smaller ancillary courts used for practice sessions & qualifying rounds leading up to the 2 week event which culminates with Men’s Singles & Doubles championship finals being contested on Labor Day weekend each year; traditionally one of America’s biggest annual sporting / entertainment spectacles that routinely attracts crowds approaching 700 thousand over its 2½ week duration . Record prize money levels were again set for 2019 totaling $57 million USD across all competitions representing a 9% increase from 2018 levels; this includes a $3 million USD bump for both Men’s & Women’s Singles champions up from $2.4 millon last year while first round losers will still walk away with $58 thousand each which represents an increase of $5 thousand USD or 9%. breakdown: https://www…/
ATP World Tour
The ATP World Tour is the global elite men’s professional tennis circuit organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The 2018 ATP World Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments (supervised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF)), the ATP 1000 and ATP 500 series, the ATP Finals, and the Davis Cup (organized by the ITF).
As of 2017, prize money at Wimbledon has increased to £31 million (US$41.1 million), distributed evenly between men and women competitors. The US Open has prize money of US$50 million, while prize money at Roland Garros is €42 million (US$48.4 million). Finally, players competing at the ATP Finals will share a record £2.95 million (US$3.93 million) in prize money.
WTA Tour
As of 2019, the WTA’s prize money totaled $146 million. The biggest portion of this comes from the Grand Slam tournaments, which make up nearly 60% of the tour’s total prize money. Interestingly, despite the US Open having the largest total purse of any tennis tournament in the world, it actually contributes a smaller percentage to the WTA’s total prize money than Wimbledon or the French Open. This is because Wimbledon and the French Open have far fewer sponsored matches than the US Open.
While the Grand Slam prize money is significant, it’s actually lower than what professional men’s tennis players make. In 2019, men’s tennis players competing on the ATP Tour won a total of $169 million in prize money. The biggest portion of this came from the four Grand Slam tournaments, which made up nearly 55% of the ATP’s total prize money for the year.
Endorsements
In addition to prize money, professional tennis players can also make money through endorsements. This is when companies pay them to promote their products or services. For example, a company might pay a tennis player to wear their clothes during a match. Endorsements can be a great way for players to make extra money.
The four Grand Slam tournaments
In tennis, participate in any of the four Grand Slam tournaments-the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open-earn big money. In 2019, for instance, the men’s and women’s winners at Wimbledon each walked away with £2.35 million (around $3 million). The runners-up earned £1.175 million (around $1.5 million).
ATP World Tour
ATP World Tour is the main professional tennis circuit organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The ATP World Tour includes the Grand Slam tournaments, the ATP World Tour Masters 1000, the ATP World Tour 500 series, the ATP World Tour 250 series, the Davis Cup, and the ATP Challenger Tour.
WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is the elite professional tennis circuit organized by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) for the most successful women tennis players in the world. The 2012 WTA Tour includes fifty-five tournaments in thirty-nine countries, with $118 million in prize money. Players who perform well can expect to earn millions of dollars annually from prize money, endorsements, and appearance fees.
The top earner on the WTA Tour in 2011 was Serena Williams, who earned more than $11 million from prize money and endorsements. Last year, Maria Sharapova was the second highest earner with total earnings of nearly $27 million. According to Forbes, Sharapova is the world’s highest-paid female athlete and earned more than $24 million in prize money and endorsements in 2010.
