The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Equal prize money at French Open

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 05, 2006

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Equal prize money at French Open

P. Subramanyam

LONDON: The French Open organisers have decided to offer equal prize-money to the men's and women's champions for the first time, it was announced on Monday.

The total prize-money for this year's tournament is approximately £10 million, up by 5.56 per cent from last year.

The singles champions at Roland Garros will each earn £655,000. However, the men's singles runner-up will get £328,000 and the women's finalist only £323,000.

WTA chief executive Larry Scott said that the women's Tour was "encouraged" by the decision to give the women's champion the same prize-money as the men's winner, but added that it was "simply indefensible that 127 women's singles competitors and an equal number of women's doubles players in a Grand Slam should be receiving considerably less than their male counterparts."

Wimbledon is now the only Grand Slam which does not offer equal prize-money. The organisers will be announcing the prize-money later this month, something that will be eagerly awaited.

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