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The USTA announced a prize money pool of $108 million for the 2026 U.S. Open on Thursday, representing a 20% increase over last year’s record purse. Not all players received the same bump. The men’s and women’s singles players who lose in the first round will earn $140,000, up 27% from last year. The year-over-year changes for each subsequent round of the main draw are less than the previous round, all the way up to the runner-up payout of $2.8 million and the winner’s prize of $5.5 million, which are only 12% and 10% increases from 2025, respectively. Players who lose in the qualifying draw will see roughly a 15% raise from last year. Generally, the share of U.S. Open prize money that goes to the top players has declined in the past decade. Ten years ago, for instance, the men’s and women’s singles winners received 18.3% of all payouts that went to singles players; that number is down to 12.9% in 2026. Payouts for the runner-up and semifinal losers have also declined relative to the overall purse in the past decade. This matches the changes at the other Grand Slams, where increases to early-round prize money are designed to assist lower-ranked players who may struggle to pay expenses. The sport’s elite players have been engaged in a dispute with the four Grand Slam tournaments this year over revenue sharing. In March, 20 players signed a letter to the heads of the events asking for more prize money. Revenue shares at all four majors are below the 22% standard for the highest-profile tournaments on the ATP and WTA Tours. When the French Tennis Federation announced a prize money increase of only 9.5% for 2026 Roland Garros, the players staged a protest by limiting their press conferences to 15 minutes. Wimbledon’s prize money increase of 20% was greater than that of the French Open, and players did not stage a protest at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. In recent weeks, multiple players have publicly stated that they would not rule out a protest at the U.S. Open. “I think going into the U.S. Open, we’re still waiting on a prize money announcement, so we haven’t really made any big decisions,” WTA Player Council representative and world No. 3 Jessica Pegula said in an interview with Front Office Sports. “But they have definitely come to the table as far as wanting to change some of the stuff that’s been going on.” It is unclear whether the new U.S. Open purse meets the 16% of revenue share that the players have reportedly requested from the Grand Slams. Last year’s total prize pool of $90 million was almost exactly 16% of the previous year’s revenues, but the organization’s financials for the 2025 tournament have not yet been released. Notably, on the same day that U.S. Open prize money was announced, the four Grand Slams announced the formation of a Grand Slam Player Advisory Council to improve communication, feedback and collaboration between the tournaments and players. The council will focus on “advancing the shared goal of greater player support,” according to a press release. The U.S. Open also announced Thursday it will be the first Grand Slam to establish a Player Support Program designed to complement existing end-of-career pension funds and provide benefits for mid-career life events and retirement transitions. The details are still unclear, but the tournament has committed an initial $2 million this year. The only cohort of players likely to be displeased with this year’s prize money increases are doubles specialists. The doubles pools are practically unchanged from last year, other than marginal boosts to the earlier rounds. The winner’s prizes for men’s, women’s and mixed doubles all remain at $1 million. At the 2000 U.S. Open, winning men’s and women’s doubles teams received 43% of the prize money earned by the singles winners—that’s now just 18%. The tournament did quintuple the winner’s prize for mixed doubles last year, albeit for a revamped format that prioritized showcasing singles stars. Just one month ago, the ATP released a proposal to drastically cut prize money and halve the size of draws for doubles by 2028. The plan does not affect the Grand Slams, where doubles players have typically gotten their largest payouts and greatest exposure, but it is worth monitoring whether the lack of an increase to doubles prize money at the 2026 U.S. Open is any indication of a similar devaluing of doubles by the Grand Slams. It is the singles players, though, who have the most fans and the strongest voices. Given the increases to their share of the U.S. Open purse, those players may be satisfied—for now.