ATP Announces Reduction in Tournaments’ Prize Money in 2022

The ATP and WTA have both been struggling after 2020. The effects of the pandemic affected both associations adversely. In fact, the ATP has recently announced that there will be pay cuts in the prize money for their tournaments, starting 2022.

Compared to pre-pandemic levels, prize money at ATP tournaments will continue to decrease, despite being played with full capacity crowds.

ATP website announces reduction in prize ahead of Australian Open

As per the official website of the Association of Tennis Professionals, the prize money at the Adelaide 1 tournament is reduced. Its pre-pandemic figure was $546,355. However, it has now come down to a flat $500,000 USD.

This is an 8 percent reduction in the prize money. The Adelaide event is planning on hosting nearly a full-capacity crowd. However, this reduction seems to be the norm going forward.

Moreover, there are other reductions as well. Not only has the prize money decreased, but the total financial commitment, too, has decreased. Now, they are 1.6 percent less than it was, and at $600,000 USD.

Furthermore, as more tournaments will host a limited-capacity crowd (sometimes 50 percent capacity), the prize money will dip further. In fact, for all ATP 500s and 250 tournaments, the money would be deducted by half!

Moreover, for Masters 1000 events, the cut would be even bigger. In comparison to the 250 and 500s events, which will have a 1.5 percent cut, the Masters events will have 2.5 percent reduced. Thus, it means that for these bigger ATP 1000 events, the prize money will take a 60 percent hit.

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2022 Cup money sees a $4 million increase

The 2022 ATP Cup is a 12-country team competition ahead of the Australian Open and will feature 18 top twenty players.

Next year’s ATP Cup will be a 12-country tournament. In fact, precede the Australian Open. Moreover, this year, Sydney will host both the group stages and knockout matches owing to travel restrictions.

Since the Cup is a team-based tournament, the allocation of prize money varies a little. Individuals and teams get prize money as participation fees and match wins. Thus, it all depends on their performances.

Next year, there will be an increase in the prize pool of the Cup. From last year’s $7,500,000 prize pool, 2022’s ATP Cup will have almost twice that, at $14,000,000.

It is no secret that both the ATP and WTA are struggling financially ever since the pandemic hit the globe. However, things do not look bleak, as both parties are also considering a merger to boost profits for all professionals involved, from the players to the stadia staff across the world.

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