Tennis Administrators Propose $10M, Winner-Take-All Tournament

Novak Djokovic earned $3.8M for winning the 2018 US Open earlier this month.GETTY IMAGES

Tennis' "warring administrators" have come up with yet another format: a 64-man, winner-takes-all event "that goes under the working title of the Majesty Cup," according to Simon Briggs of the London TELEGRAPH. The new idea is "technically an exhibition and would be staged in the week after the US Open." But the "eye-catching detail" is the proposed prize money of $10 M, which would be supplied by Gerard Piqué's investment group, Kosmos. For purposes of comparison, that is about $2 M more than the entire purse at an ATP Masters 1000 event -- "the next-most-prestigious category of tournament after a grand slam." But whereas a Masters tournament follows a "carefully delineated pay structure," in accordance with ATP rules, the "twist" of the Majesty Cup concept is that the entire $10M would be taken home by the last player standing after six knockout rounds. The other 63 receive nothing (TELEGRAPH, 9/20).