French Open champs back to pre-pandemic pay; total prize money tops $50M

PARIS (AP) — Paychecks for the two French Open singles champions will return to the pre-pandemic amount of about $2.5 million and the total prize money is rising to a tournament-record of about $54 million. The  French tennis federation announced Friday what it will be offering at the clay-court Grand Slam event. Qualifying begins May 22; main-draw play starts May 28. The title winners in singles will get the same pay as in 2019, which was the high mark in Paris. During the coronavirus pandemic, total prize money sank by as much as 25%.