Naomi Osaka (C front) of Japan poses during the trophy awarding ceremony after her women's singles final match against Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic at 2019 Australian Open in Melbourne, on Jan. 26, 2019. Naomi Osaka won 2-1. (Xinhua/Bai Xue)
Australian Open will offer a record 49.1 million U.S. dollars prize money at the 2020 tournament in January.
SYDNEY, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The world's best tennis players will compete for a record 49.1 million U.S. dollars at the 2020 Australian Open, officials announced on Tuesday.
Tournament champions in both the men's and women's singles events will take home 2.84 million U.S. dollars, while runners up will receive 1.42 million U.S. dollars.
Sponsorships and overseas interest have seen the event's total prize money more than double over the past decade.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia kisses the trophy during the trophy awarding ceremony after his men's singles final match against Rafael Nadal of Spain at 2019 Australian Open in Melbourne on Jan. 27, 2019. (Xinhua/Hu Jingchen)
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said that the increase goes a long way to supporting and valuing athletes at all levels of the competition.
"This year, as we do every year, we worked with the tours to establish the weighting for prize money which increases round-by-round, and we pushed to reward players competing early in the tournament in both singles and doubles," Tiley said.
Players exiting in the first round of the main draw will now receive 62,000 U.S. dollars, while those who make it to the semifinals will earn 719,000 U.S. dollars.
Additionally, those bowing out early in the first round of qualifiers will walk away with 13,800 U.S. dollars, a 33.3 percent year-on-year increase from 2018.
Novak Djokovic (R C) of Serbia and Rafael Nadal of Spain compete during the men's singles final match at 2019 Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 27, 2019. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)
"We strongly believe in growing prize money at all levels of the game and we will continue to work with the playing group to create viable career paths in the sport and enable more players to make more money," Tiley added.
The 2020 Australian Open will take place in Melbourne from January 20 to February 2. ■
