Australian Open offers $30 million total prize fund

Tennis Australia (TA) has moved to address concerns over the distribution of prize funds in the sport's grand slams by announcing that the 2013 Australian Open will pay more prize money per round than any other event.
The 2013 Australian Open's men's and women's singles champion will each receive $2.43 million, the biggest prize money purse in the history of the sport.
The champions' winnings form part of a total prize fund of $30 million, with the biggest percentage increases in prize money coming in the first three rounds.
The first round is up 32.7% to $27,600, second round up 36.6% to $45,500 and the third round up 30% to $71,000. Prize money for the three rounds of qualifying has gone up nearly 15%, while first round doubles prize money has increased more than 30% and the round of 16, quarters and semis have all gone up more than 14%.
The prize money announcement from TA came on the back of reports during 2012 that players on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour were considering a boycott of the 2013 tournament in an effort to secure a greater percentage of grand slam event revenues.
At the time of the 2012 Australian Open, players warned of future strikes over the issue of prize money while a proposal to boycott the tournament had been strongly endorsed at a players' meeting.
Players have long complained over the structure of prize money, saying the sums put in place for the four grand slams did not equate to the revenue they generate while the distribution is too heavily weighted to those players who regularly advance to the latter stages.
TA said it had held "extensive consultation" with the ATP and Women's Tennis Association (WTA) taking on board recommendations from both tours for the first step in what is a four year plan for prize money increases.
Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley explained "our motivation is to make a major contribution toward helping ensure professional tennis players can make a decent living.
"As we have said in the past, it is a real issue and needs to be urgently addressed throughout the sport."
"That is why the biggest increases are in the earlier rounds, qualifying and doubles which in effect rewards a lot of the lower ranked players for their achievements which, by the way, should not be undersold. To just reach the main draw of a Slam, a professional tennis player has to be among the top 100 in what is one of, if not the most, competitive professional sport in the world.
"At the same time we also still want to continue to recognise the incredible drawing power and contribution of the top players. It is always a balance which is why we undertook unprecedented consultation on this subject with the tours and players who have been extremely supportive. We will not be stopping here. There will be more talks and more increases during the next four years. This is just a very positive first step."
The Australian Open's move comes after the ATP gave a lukewarm response to the US Open's pre-Christmas decision to increase prize money for the 2013 edition by US$4 million to a record US$29.5 million.