The highest earning players at the US Open
With millions on the line at the US Open, we take a look at the players who have earned the most in prize money so far this year
By Cayle Reid
OF THE 64 TROPHIES that can be won on the ATP and WTA tours, few are more coveted than the US Open. As the final grand slam on the calendar, the US Open presents the last opportunity of 2024 for players to add a grand slam victory to their list of achievements. But that’s not the only reason they want to win.
The US Open offers a total prize pool of more than $110 million AUD, the most of any tennis tournament. A single win – or even appearance – at the tournament is enough to cover most people’s yearly salaries. Take Alex de Minaur for example. After injuring his hip at Wimbledon last month, the Demon pulled out of the Olympics and has been resting up ever since. He won’t be needing worker’s comp though, because he’ll net almost $150,000 by simply showing up and playing in the first round of the US Open.
Evidently, tennis pays well. You need only to follow the Instagram accounts of top ten ranked players and witness the lavish lifestyles they live for proof of that. Times are changing though. For the last two decades or so, a member of the big three (Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal) or on rare occasions Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka, would top any list of the highest earning players in tennis, that’s simply not the case anymore.
With Federer retired, Wawrinka, Murray and Nadal all putting up their final fights against father time and even Djokovic showing signs of slowing down, the rankings of the highest earning tennis players look markedly different than what fans are accustomed to. See for yourself below, where we rank the top men’s and women’s players by how much they’ve earned in prize money in 2024.
All figures have been converted to AUD and are accurate as of August 26th 2024.
Honourable mention: Alex de Minaur
2024 earnings: $4.27 million
Yes, this list was going to be a top ten, but our Australian bias means we just couldn’t leave out Alex de Minaur, who sits in 11th place. De Minaur has taken his game to another level in 2024, racking up four wins against top ten-ranked players and even establishing his own place inside the top ten. The 25-year-old won the Mexican Open back in March, the Libema Open in June, made the final of the Rotterdam Open, and has been consistently performing on the bigger stages at grand slams, hence why he’s trending towards the top of his sport’s highest earners for the first time.
10. Casper Ruud
2024 earnings: $5.10 million
Casper Ruud was knocked out by a pair of Australians during his first two finals of 2024. First, Jordan Thompson at the Los Cabos Open, and then a week later by Alex de Minaur at the Mexican Open. He also came up short against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters. Don’t feel too bad for Ruud though, he still gets paid for making all those finals he loses. And he’s since bounced back with wins at the Barcelona and Geneva Opens, which are sure to have boosted his bank account. A semifinal appearance at the French Open wouldn’t have hurt either.
9. Barbora Krejčíková
2024 earnings: $5.17 million
Barbora Krejčíková is forging as path one of the most hit-or-miss players in tennis history. Outside of her quarterfinals appearance at the Australian Open in January, Krejčíková had only won three singles matches this year – a run of form that saw her dip all the way down to 32nd in the WTA rankings before Wimbledon. Then she proved her doubters wrong by winning seven in a row to claim the Wimbledon title and take home a sizable portion of its prize pool.
8. Novak Djokovic
2024 earnings: $5.34 million
By the Serbian maestro’s impossibly high standards, Novak Djokovic hasn’t had the best year in 2024. Outside of his Olympic gold medal (which is a huge caveat), Djokovic is yet to win a tournament this year and hasn’t come too close to winning his 25th grand slam. The 37-year-old went out in straight sets against Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final, in four sets against Jannik Sinner at the Australian Open, and pulled out of the French Open with an injury. Still, he’s made enough deep runs to take home a decent pay package numbering in the multi millions.
7. Daniil Medvedev
2024 earnings: $5.8 million
Current world number five Daniil Medvedev’s year has been characterised by near misses. Medvedev is yet to win a title in 2024, but the Russian has come agonisingly close to some major hardware. He was the runner up at the Australian Open and Indian Wells Masters, and a semi-finalist at the Dubai Championships, Miami Masters and Wimbeldon, accounting for most of his earnings. Medvedev’s quest for a second grand slam could end at the US Open, as he’s a hard court specialist and claimed his only previous grand slam title in the States.
6. Aryna Sabalenka
2024 earnings: $6.22 million
It’s refreshing to see WTA stars so high up on a list of tennis’ highest earning players, but it’s to be expected as more and more events that appear on both the ATP and WTA tours are handing out equal prize money. Aryna Sabalenka defended her Australian Open crown to start 2024, but she hasn’t matched that level of success since. She lost the finals of both the Madrid and Rome Opens to Iga Swiatek, but she has continued to rack up points and climb closer towards her Polish adversary atop the WTA rankings. It once looked like Swiatek would have a stranglehold on the WTA for the next 10-15 years, so some healthy competition from Sabalenka can only be a good thing.
5. Jasmine Paolini
2024 earnings: $6.31 million
Where did Jasmine Paolini come from? At the start of this year, the 28-year-old had never been ranked higher than 29th, but this year she’s made the singles and doubles final at the French Open and the singles final at Wimbledon. And although she lost all three of those matches, she’s still rocketed up the WTA rankings all the way to fifth, while also earning career-best money from her winnings.
4. Alex Zverev
2024 earnings: $8.5 million
Alex Zverev’s return from injury has largely been overshadowed by the case brought against him by the mother of his child due to accusations of physical abuse. Zverev was charged $735,000 last year for allegedly assaulting his partner and has now reached an out of court settlement for around $300,000, but controversially, his 2024 earnings have already far surpassed that figure.
3. Iga Swiatek
2024 earnings: $10.07 million
Perhaps best described as the WTA’s answer to Rafael Nadal, Iga Swiatek is a dominant force on clay courts, winning four of the last five French Opens. She’s been less successful on different surfaces, having only ever reached the quarter finals at Wimbledon, and the 2022 US Open being her only other grand slam win. Regardless, Swiatek is the face of women’s tennis right now and likely will be for the foreseeable future. She’s even out-earned most of her male counterparts so far this year, courtesy of a title at the Qatar Open, three Masters victories at Indian Wells, the Madrid Open and the Italian Open, and yet another grand slam victory at the French Open.
2. Jannik Sinner
2024 earnings: $10.82 million
Tennis media, fans and pundits were quick to anoint Carlos Alcaraz as the heir apparent to Djokovic’s throne after the Spanish wunderkind racked up multiple grand slam titles before turning 21. Now, Jannik Sinner has emerged as the biggest challenger to Alcaraz’s reign, winning the Australian Open, Rotterdam Open and Miami Masters this year. Sinner has a 38-3 record in 2024 and comfortably sits atop the ATP’s world rankings by a few thousand points. Needless to say, Sinner’s recent success has also landed him some considerable prize money.
1. Carlos Alcaraz
2024 earnings: $11.83 million
2024 actually got off to a slow for Carlos Alcaraz, at least compared to what we’re used to seeing from the Spanish phenom. Continually hampered by injuries, the current world number three went out in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, pulled out of his home event at the Madrid Open, and besides winning the Indian Wells Masters, didn’t entirely looked himself. Nevertheless, Alcaraz’s bank account was never in peril. He bounced back by winning his third grand slam at the French Open and defending his title at Wimbledon a month later. It goes without saying, but winning two grand slams in single year will earn you quite a lot of coin.
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