• Loading stock data...
Friday, June 6, 2025

Australian Open Begins With Record Prize Money—and Doping Drama

After a big year in tennis last year, the calendar flips to the sport’s first major of 2025, featuring no shortage of prominent storylines.

Mike Frey-Imagn Images

The 2025 tennis calendar is off and running with this weekend’s start of the Australian Open, the first major of the year, featuring another record purse that showcases further the sharp escalation in the sport’s player compensation.

The tournament features an event-record total purse of $96.5 million in Australian dollars (more than $59 million in U.S. currency), up by 12% from a year ago, and more than twice the level of a decade ago. The latest figure extends the trend of double-digit-percentage increases seen annually across the four majors, most recently with the 2024 US Open that set a tennis record with a $75 million purse. Australian Open singles champions will each receive $3.5 million in Australian dollars ($2.15 million U.S.), up more than 11%.

As was the case in 2024, the Australian Open will help set the financial tone in tennis for the rest of the year, though a weakening of the country’s dollar in recent months does hamper players’ conversion to their native currencies somewhat. 

Doping Chatter

The tournament’s defending champions, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka (who also won in 2023), each return to Melbourne as the sport’s current No. 1 players, and they are betting favorites to prevail again—lending a clear sense of competitive superiority for those top talents. 

The dominant storyline for the Australian Open at the outset, however, surrounds doping cases in the sport, particularly a still-open one for Sinner and another for Iga Świątek, currently the women’s No. 2 player in the world. 

In Sinner’s case, he tested positive last year for trace amounts of the anabolic steroid clostebol, initially considered to be an accidental result of contact with a trainer who used the substance. The World Anti-Doping Agency is appealing Sinner’s initial exoneration by the International Tennis Integrity Agency, and a final ruling is expected after the Australian Open.

Świątek, meanwhile, accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for TMZ, a banned heart medication she said she was taking for jet lag and sleep-related issues. After initially missing three late-season events last fall for what was described as “personal reasons,” the suspension ultimately became public.

“We started, yeah, with ‘personal issues’ because I also needed time to figure everything out,” she said. 

The continued swirl of doping-related scrutiny and suspicion, meanwhile, continues to loom large over the sport, and this event in particular. Emma Raducanu said she recently left an allergic reaction to insect bites untreated for fear of triggering a positive doping test.

“I was just left there with my swollen ankle and hand,” Raducanu said. “I’m just, ‘I’m going to tough it out,’ because I don’t want to risk it.”

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

YouTube Scores Early Win Over Disney in Fight Over Exec

A Los Angeles judge blocks an injunction sought by ESPN’s parent company.

Silver: NBA Local Media Woes Could Hurt Expansion Momentum

Las Vegas and Seattle have long been rumored as expansion cities.

Rodgers Signing Defies Steelers Reputation but Further Boosts Team’s Profile

The NFL team long known for avoiding drama signed a mercurial quarterback.

French Open Ratings Up 23% in Week 1 Ahead of Star-Powered Finals

The women’s final will feature the world’s top two players.

Featured Today

August 31, 2024; Columbus, Ohio, USA; The Goodyear blimp flies over Ohio Stadium during the first half of Saturday’s NCAA Division I football game between the Akron Zips and the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Why the Goodyear Blimp Is at Every Major Sports Event

The airship wasn’t built to cover sports. Now it’s a regular presence.
May 27, 2015; Paris, France; Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO) knocks the clay off her shoe during her match against Simona Halep (ROU) on day four of the French Open at Roland Garros
June 4, 2025

Roland-Garros’s Iconic Red-Clay Surface Is a Precise Alchemy

The exact science behind maintaining the French Open’s red clay.
Alex Jensen introductory press conference on Monday, March 17, 2025.
June 3, 2025

Alex Jensen Started Utah Utes HC Job While Still Coaching the Mavs

How Jensen began building an NCAA program while patrolling the Dallas sideline.
May 31, 2025

PSG and the City of Paris Can Join European Soccer’s Elite

What a maiden Champions League title would mean for the French club.
NBA Finals

NBA Finals Continue to Strip Away Pageantry

Fans once again complained about the lack of visible Finals markings.
June 4, 2025

Manfred: MLB Wants New Media-Rights Deal Before All-Star Game

Talks continue with three bidders, and a decision is expected soon.
June 5, 2025

NHL Not Opening Expansion Bids—but Houston, Atlanta Still in Mix

The question of additional franchises will stay in a more unstructured process.
Sponsored

Game On: Portfolio Players Stories, Brought to You by E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

In Episode 7 of Portfolio Players, go inside the boardroom with Avenue Capital CEO and former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry on Giannis’s future, women’s sports, and upstart leagues like TGL and Unrivaled. 
Jun 4, 2025; Paris, FR; Coco Gauff of the United States celebrates winning her match against Madison Keys of the United States on day 11 at Roland Garros Stadium.
June 4, 2025

Coco Gauff Is Last Hope for U.S. to End French Open Drought

Gauff last made the French Open final in 2022.
LeBron James
June 4, 2025

Adam Silver: All-Star Game Will Be USA vs. World in Daytime Event

The NBA tried a tournament last year that fell in ratings.
Hilary Knight
June 4, 2025

PWHL Teams Risk Losing Superstars in Expansion Draft

The league permitted teams to initially protect only three players each.
June 4, 2025

ACC Lawsuits Formally Closed, but How Long Will Peace Remain?

Florida State, Clemson, and the ACC have ended their litigation.