Mutua Madrid Open Prize Money Breakdown: How Much Will the Winners Make in 2021 After 60% Pay Cut?

Mutua Madrid Open 2021 is back after a year of absence because of the global coronavirus pandemic. Since its inception in 2002 and expansion in 2009, it has been one of the richest tournaments on the ATP and WTA calendar. Yet it had to suffer the financial implications of the pandemic, and thus in 2021, the prize money has seen a drastic reduction.

The prize money in 2019 was the highest in tournament history as the ATP and WTA winners bagged $1,351,161. But this year, the singles winner’s prize money has seen a 73.79% decrease to $390,798. The overall prize money for the tournament also decreased by 60 percent from $15,798,212 to $6,319,287.

Runner-up prize money at Mutua Madrid Open 2021

The runner-up this time will take home, $233,467 instead of €608,700 that was given to Stefanos Tsitsipas and Simona Halep in 2019 as runners-up, respectively. Furthermore, the losing semifinalists will earn $132,296.

Moreover, if a player reaches the quarterfinals, he/she is guaranteed a paycheck of $72,379. In the third round, players will receive $45,136. The cut in prize money continues in the second round as well, with $28,173 allotted to the players in the second round.

Although the first-round prize money has seen a cut, it is relatively lower than the other rounds. Since the pandemic began, tournaments now have higher first-round prize money allocated to help the lower-ranked players. In 2019, the first-round prize money was $28,721. In 2021 the prize money has dropped to $18,674.

As the tournaments in 2020 had a reduced prize money purse, many expected the situation to continue in 2021. Madrid Open tournament director, Feliciano Lopez, had earlier indicated the prize money reductions to continue in 2021 as well.

“Yeah, the prize money had a significant reduction, of course, but it will be the same I think for the beginning of 2021, because I don’t see the virus going away. So for now I don’t see any hope on prize money,” Lopez said.

Madrid Open was about to take place in 2020, but the pandemic didn’t allow that to happen. Now in 2021, it is happening with 40 percent of spectators and significant changes from the last edition in 2019.

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