French Open To Give Equal Paydays To Male, Female Winners

French Open Offering Equal Prize Money

The French Open is offering equal prize money in every round for male and female tennis players for the first time this year, and singles champions will earn a record US$1.33M this year, according to Richard Pagliaro of TENNIS WEEK. The move comes three weeks after the All England Club decided Wimbledon will pay men and women equally, and “means there will be a level prize money field in all four majors for the first time.” Billie Jean King: “Equal prize money at the four Grand Slams has now become a non-issue and I couldn’t be happier.” French Tennis Federation President Christian Bîmes said he was “particularly sensitive” to comments from Venus Williams, who recently wrote an Op/Ed in the London Times praising Wimbledon’s move (TENNISWEEK.com, 3/17). In Chicago, Carol Slezak wrote Williams’ “willingness to take a public stand separates her not only from most of her female peers, but also from our most celebrated male athletes,” such as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Like King, Arthur Ashe, Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell and Jim Brown, Williams “has the status and the interest” (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/18).

ONE-UPMANSHIP: TENNIS WEEK’S Pagliaro noted this year’s French Open winners’ payout surpasses the $1.2M Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova earned for winning last year’s U.S. Open. Sharapova collected a $500,000 bonus check for her second-place finish in the U.S. Open Series for a total of $1.7M. However, since the USTA “traditionally touts the U.S. Open as the most lucrative Grand Slam event in the world, it’s likely the U.S. Open will increase its prize money to eclipse the French Open” (TENNISWEEK.com, 3/17).