Melbourne
Players losing in the first round of qualifying at the year’s first Grand Slam will take home A$20,000, up by a third from last year, while singles players who exit in the first round of the main draw will earn A$90,000, a jump of 20%. Before the start of the 2018 Australian Open, Serb champion Novak Djokovic had to distance himself from media reports that he had pushed for a revolt over the way revenues from the four Grand Slams were distributed to help reward a larger group of players.
“We have long been committed to improving the pay and conditions for a deeper pool of international tennis players,” tournament director Craig Tiley said in a statement, noting that the overall prize money has more than tripled since 2007. “This year, we pushed to reward players who go down early in the tournament in both singles and doubles.”
The 2020 women’s and men’s singles champions will receive smaller increases in prize money, with both winners taking home A$4.12 million. Naomi Osaka of Japan is the reigning women’s singles champion at the Australian Open while Djokovic claimed a record seventh men’s title by defeating great rival Rafael Nadal (Spain) in the 2019 final.
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