AO increases Prize money

“We are proud to announce this major increase in prize money. We have led the world in prize money for these incredible athletes and we want to ensure that the Australian Open continues to make a major contribution to the financial wellbeing of professional tennis players," Wood explained.

Happy to see the ATP and the Slams addressing a much-talked about and much-discussed aspect of modern Tennis and addressing player concerns.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2012/10/Features/Australian-Open-Prize-Money.aspx

I would expect SoCal to be a bit more happier today.

The best bit is: "Tennis Australia officials would seek further input from players regarding a more equitable distribution of prize money to help ensure financial viability for lower ranked players".

I'm all for the top guys earning well but considering there wouldnt be a tour without the other few hundred players its time they got paid better.

However, when should the earning level shoot up - in R1 when they can just tank a match and get paid well, or should they have to win 1 or 2 matches first?

laverfan wrote:I would expect SoCal to be a bit more happier today.

Yes it is about time that the TAKE home pay of a top 100 player exceeds that of a las vegas stripper or construction crane operator.

Increases in prize money several times the rate of inflation in the worst global economy for the western world since the great depression. Whoa is me, whoa is tennis.

Can someone read these tea leaves and tell me the exact date fans will flee the game? I am being confused by all these reports of good attendance, ratings, and increasing prize money.

Considering that the women's game is considered by many to be in the doldrums a bit, I'm surprised they've given the women such a big increase.

The women are making money hand over fist as well Julius that is what makes all this gloomy doomsday talk nonsense. Cliff Drysdale in the early 70s said that for reaching the semis of wimbeldon he received a gift certificate for some expensive tennis shorts. When people talk about mass exodus of fans and doldrums they need have a bit of realistic view as to the history of the tour. Also to look at the viewing choices and entertainment choices of people being at their highest ever. And also people are under financial strain, yet sports as a whole has proven to be recession or depression resistant in many cases. Tennis in particular is rebuilding if anything from a doldrum period. 5 or 6 years ago once Agassi retired and really started to get old tennis completely fell of the map in the US. Fed and Nadal basically have given it a shot in the arm even here in the states, although the sport will never be as popular as it was till another great american champion comes up.

socal1976 wrote:The women are making money hand over fist as well Julius that is what makes all this gloomy doomsday talk nonsense.

There's plenty of doomsday talk about the WTA around, not just here. Yet with the increased prize money and the viewing figures (up for WTA, I think), perhaps the WTA is also in some sort of golden-esque era.

Julius I don't like the inconsistency of the top players in the WTA and the fact that Serena at 75 percent peak can still destroy the best of the WTA hurts the tour. Especially, in light of all the tournaments she has missed over the years.

Financially though they aren't doing poorly at all. Neither is the mens tour. Fed, Djoko, Murray, and Nadal all easily make well over a million a month. Fed makes 1 million a week there has to be money and interest in the sport to support those figure. Does anyone know who the greatest rhytmic gymnast or bowler of all time is? I know I don't.

Sure, popularity is linked to payment.
And the women play 3 sets max, the men 5 sets...the public get more tennis with the men.
The big issue is getting more money to the lower ranked guys who can barely make ends meet by flying around, hotels, etc...to then lose in R1 and get $10k. Without these guys we wouldn't have a tour for players like Federer to rise through.

I imagine they are planning to slow the event down even more and are concerned about hourly rate data showing finalists are earning below minimum wage rate.

bogbrush wrote:I imagine they are planning to slow the event down even more and are concerned about hourly rate data showing finalists are earning below minimum wage rate.

lol

The article on the ATP site is a let down, it doesn't give any useful further information like how much the prrize money is increasing by, how it is distributed amongst the rounds and how the increase is distributed amongst the rounds as well.

And what does lead the world even mean, does it mean that they have the highest prize money of the slams or not ? Useless article.