Aryna Sabalenka has earned more than three million US dollars in prize money this year. In their entire tennis career with three Grand Slam titles so far, there are over 33 million.
A proud sum, but in the Belarus’ view, it should actually be significantly higher. “I think we all, the top players, all players, we bring the show. I think we deserve to be paid a little more,” said the world ranking first last week at the tournament in Stuttgart.
Jule Niemeier has so far reached around $ 200,000 in bonuses in 2025. The Dortmund woman won five matches on the WTA tour after around four months of the season-on ten defeats. You can therefore consider your income as quite appropriate. Nevertheless, according to Niemeier, it is difficult for her to “go out with a real plus”. After all, a professional environment of trainers and physiotherapists is also needed.
It is at least surprising that there are currently discussions about low prize money in tennis and with a view to other sports. In fact, the newly founded PTPA player union has sued the ATP and WTA tennis tours. Her general director Ahmad Nasser said this with the words: “Tennis is broken.” The professionals are trapped in an unfair system, the stress is too high.
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Of course, the tennis season is long. The professionals travel from tournament to tournament all over the world eleven months. The fact that organizers and especially the Grand Slams have good profits are of course due to the attractiveness of the product – and thus what the players offer. When it comes to entertainment, this is often great sport.
And certainly could also be discussed whether the prize money is distributed fairly. Anyone who, like Jule Niemeier in the world rankings, is led with a place in the top 100, you get significantly less from the cake. On the other hand, $ 80,000 are not a little for reaching the main field at a Grand Slam tournament like the Australian Open.
In the end, the current discussion including the lawsuit is strange and harms tennis more than the supposedly too low prize money. The PTPA shoots the goal and, with its excessive criticism, could make sure that tennis really breaks.
It may be that the Grand Slam tournaments make high profits. However, this does not apply to other smaller tournaments. The burden for the professionals is certainly high, maybe a compromise could be found here. It does not necessarily need a mandatory Masters event in Saudi Arabia-on the other hand, the prize money there should be exorbitant.
Source: Tagesspiegel
I work as a news website author and mostly cover the opinion section. I have been writing since I was a teenager, and have always enjoyed telling stories. I studied journalism at university and loved every minute of it. After graduating, I decided to move to London and take up a position with a Global Happenings. It has been an incredible experience, learning about all sorts of different cultures and meeting some amazing people. My goal is to continue learning and growing in my career so that I can provide readers with the best possible content.
