U.S. Open champs get lowest payout since 2012; total prizes up

Associated PressAug 23, 2021, 11:23 PM EDT

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The two singles champions at this year’s U.S. Open will earn 35% less than in 2019, the last time the Grand Slam tennis tournament allowed spectators, while prize money for qualifying and the first three rounds of the main draw will rise as part of an overall increase.

A year after banning fans entirely because of the coronavirus pandemic and lowering prize money due to lost revenue, the U.S. Tennis Association announced Monday that it will be boosting total player compensation to a record $57.5 million, slightly more than the $57.2 million in 2019. The figure was $53.4 million in 2020.

The title winners in singles each will be paid $2.5 million, down from $3 million last year and $3.85 million two years ago. It is the lowest amount for the top prize at Flushing Meadows since 2012, when the singles champs each received $1.9 million.

This year’s singles runners-up will be paid $1.25 million, a decrease from $1.5 million in 2020 and $1.9 million in 2019 – and the lowest since $950,000 in 2012.

In 2020, U.S. Open qualifying was called off amid the pandemic. That part of this year’s event starts Tuesday – unlike for the main tournament, no spectators will be permitted – and will award nearly $6 million in all, a jump from about $3.5 million in 2019.

Other examples of increases in singles: First-round prize money goes to $75,000, a bump of 23% from $61,000 in 2020 and of 29% from $58,000 in 2019; second-round payouts go to $115,000 from $100,000 in 2020 and 2019; and third-round payouts go to $180,000 from $163,000 in 2020 and 2019.

Total prize money is going up for each competition, the USTA said: singles, doubles, mixed doubles and wheelchair tennis.

“We determined our round-by-round prize money allocations by engaging in an open dialogue with the players and the management of both tours,” tournament director Stacey Allaster said in a statement issued by the USTA. “We applaud their collective leadership in directing the 2021 U.S. Open prize money to benefit the maximum number of players.”

The singles draw in New York is Thursday; main draw action begins Aug. 30.

Novak Djokovic will be bidding to complete the first calendar-year Grand Slam by a man since Rod Laver in 1969 and eyeing a men’s-record 21st major singles championship. Naomi Osaka is the defending women’s champion as she seeks a fifth Grand Slam title.

Dodig, Krajicek win French Open men’s doubles title, a year after squandering match points in final

Associated PressJun 10, 2023, 4:44 PM EDT

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A year after squandering three match points in the final, fourth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Austin Krajicek of the United States won the men’s doubles title at the French Open on Saturday by beating unseeded Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-4, 6-1.

Unlike last year’s tension-filled final, this one was never in doubt as the Croat-American duo broke the Belgians four times, saved all three break points they faced and wrapped up the win in 1 hour, 20 minutes.

It was the 38-year-old Dodig’s third major title in men’s doubles, after winning here in 2015 and at the Australian Open in 2021 – with different partners. But it was a first Grand Slam trophy for the 32-year-old Krajicek, a former top-100 ranked singles player.

Gille and Vliegen were playing together in their first major final.

Last year, Dodig and Krajicek lost to Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer after having three championship points in the second set.

At French Open, Francisco Cerundolo is mad at chair umpire over Holger Rune’s double-bounce

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 8:49 PM EDT

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PARIS – Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina was devastated about losing his French Open fourth-round match to Holger Rune of Denmark in a fifth-set tiebreaker Monday. He also was mad at chair umpire Kader Nouni for missing a double-bounce of the ball on a point that was awarded to Rune early in his 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory.

They were tied at a set apiece and on serve at 2-1 for the No. 6-seeded Rune early in the third at Court Suzanne Lenglen when the point of contention happened. Cerundolo, who was serving at deuce, hit a forehand that skidded low at the baseline and quickly bounced a second time – which normally would have meant that the point was his.

But Rune went ahead and got his racket on the ball, sending it back over the net. At about the same time, No. 23 seed Cerundolo was saying “sorry” to apologize for the odd way his forehand made the ball skim across the clay. Nouni was not immediately aware of the double-bounce, thought the ball was still in play and called Cerundolo for hindrance for talking during a point. That meant Rune got the point, and when he won the next one, too, he had a service break.

“It was unbelievable, because it was a clear double-bounce. I was mad at the umpire because he has to see it,” Cerundolo said. “It’s his fault.”

In tennis, electronic line-calling is used at many tournaments to make line calls, but replays are not used to check things like double-bounces or whether a point should be lost because a player touches the net, which is not allowed.

And while Cerundolo put the onus on the official, he also thought Rune could have ceded the point because of the double-bounce.

“For sure, I wish he would have done that, because it was a big moment,” Cerundolo said.

Rune, who moved into a matchup against No. 4 Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals, said he saw a replay after the following point, and “saw it was a double bounce. But the point already happened, and he called the score. So I felt sorry.”

But, Rune added: “This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”