French Open prize money has increased by about 10% for an overall pot of 61.7 million euros ($72.1 million). The total amount is up 5.3 million euros from last year. Play begins on Sunday, May 24 at Roland Garros in western Paris.
Men’s and women’s singles champions each receive 2.8 million euros and the runners-up 1.4 million euros. Semifinalists earn 750,000 euros and first round losers get 87,000 euros. Men’s and women’s doubles winners pocket 600,000 euros and the mixed doubles champions get 122,000 euros. Last year, Carlos Alcaraz staged an epic comeback to beat Jannik Sinner in a five-set final and Coco Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka for the women’s title. There will be an opening ceremony before the men´s and women´s finals, lasting about six minutes, with French choreographer Benjamin Millepied in charge of the program. Also for the first time, players can wear data-collecting portable devices on court in order to gain information on their physical performances, tournament director Amélie Mauresmo said at a news conference on Thursday. Mauresmo repeated the importance of privacy for players – an issue raised by Iga Swiatek and Gauff at this year’s Australian Open.
Gauff’s racket-smashing away from the court went viral. Swiatek said the seemingly limitless access-all-areas cameras that track players made them feel they were being watched like “animals in the zoo.”
Without mentioning the Australian Open itself, Mauresmo said tennis should “maintain respect for privacy” and have a secluded space. “Players need a private area, something which will not change,” she said. “No cam access (there).” This year, a local amateur beat Sinner and went on to become a millionaire in Australian dollars after winning the newly invented 1 Point Slam at the Australian Open. Don’t expect it at the French Open.
“Our ambition is not to repeat everything that’s done elsewhere,” Mauresmo said. “This is not something that corresponds to us, to the image of Roland Garros.”