The Australian Open has announced a record purse for the 2026 tournament just weeks after Tennis Australia and the Professional Tennis Players’ Association said they are finalizing a settlement on a lawsuit that alleged the Grand Slams have suppressed prize money from players.
Tennis Australia announced Tuesday that the purse for the 2026 Australian Open is about $75.1 million ($111.5 million AUD), a 16% increase from last year. Each men’s and women’s singles champion will walk away with close to $2.8 million ($4.15 million AUD), up 19% from last year.
The Australian Open has generally had the lowest purse of the four major tournaments, though this year’s purse has eclipsed last year’s Wimbledon purse of about $72 million (£53 million) and Roland-Garros of around $64 million (€56.35 million).
The 2025 US Open still leads all tournaments with $90 million in total compensation: $85 million in prize money and $5 million in additional support for out-of-pocket expenses. The runner-ups at the 2025 US Open earned more ($2.5 million) than the champions at last year’s Australian Open (about $2.2 million).
In late December, the PTPA and Tennis Australia announced they “are working together to memorialize the terms” of a settlement, which is expected to be finalized in early 2026.
The lawsuit was originally filed in March 2025 against the ATP and WTA Tour, while the organizers of the four Grand Slams were included as defendants in June. It alleged that the tours and organizers operated as a “cartel” conspiring to limit prize money through a grueling 11-month tennis schedule.
U.S. tennis player Reilly Opelka and Australia’s Nick Kyrgios were among the players named as plaintiffs in the suit alongside the PTPA. Novak Djokovic, who co-founded the player’s organization, was not named in the suit. On Sunday, Djokovic announced his departure from the union.
But the lawsuit wasn’t the only course of action from the players.
In July, a group of tennis’s best players, including Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka, and Iga Świątek, signed a letter asking the four Grand Slams to get a larger revenue share of the tournaments. Two months later, the players signed another letter that outlined more specific requests.
Players currently receive 16%, which aligns with the prize money amount at the 2026 Australian Open. They are requesting for the share to increase to 22% by 2030, citing the example set by U.S. leagues like the NFL and NBA where revenue share is close to 50–50.
They also want the Slams to offer additional benefits including health care, maternity benefits, and an improved pension.
“We had good conversations with the Grand Slams at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, so it was disappointing when they said they cannot act on our proposals until other issues are resolved,” Sinner told the Guardian in October. “Calendar and scheduling are important topics, but there is nothing stopping the slams from addressing player welfare benefits like pensions and healthcare right now.”
Coco Gauff said at the China Open in September that the goal of adjusting revenue sharing is not only for the best players, but also for those lower in the rankings to make livable wages.
“We kind of want them to invest more in the tour as a whole, not only when it comes to prize money, but the wellbeing of players and just trickling that down, all the way down to the lower-ranked players as well. Our 200th best player, 300th best player are struggling to make ends meet,” Gauff said.
