US Open Tennis 2016 Prize Money: Complete Purse and Earnings from New York

The 2016 U.S. Open officially kicks off on Monday with the best men's and women's players in the world seeking to achieve tennis immortality, not to mention put a lot of extra money in their bank accounts. 

As the sport of tennis has grown in popularity over the years, as well as natural rates of inflation increasing prize payouts, this year's final Grand Slam event is going to be a very lucrative affair. 

Here is all of the financial information associated with the 2016 U.S. Open:

Purse	Dollar Amount
Total	$46.3 million
Men's Champion	$3.5 million
Women's Champion	$3.5 million
Runner-Up	$1.75 million
Semifinalists	$875,000
Quarterfinalists	$450,000
Round of 16	$235,000
Round of 32	$140,000
Round of 64	$77,200
Round of 128	$43,300

Richard Drew/Associated Press

The big story about this year's U.S. Open purse is the total compensation given to the athletes is a record-setting $46.3 million, per E.J. Crawford of USOpen.org. 

Crawford noted the 2016 payout is up 10 percent from last year thanks in large part to the record $625,000 going to men's and women's doubles champions. 

“We are proud that this year’s U.S. Open will offer the richest purse in tennis history,” United States Tennis Association president Katrina Adams said, per Crawford. “We continue to invest in all aspects of this world-class event to provide the best services and experiences for the players, our fans and all of the U.S. Open partners.”

Per Jackie Wattles of CNN, the USTA's goal is to get the total payout up to $50 million in 2017. 

Another notable aspect of the U.S. Open payout—really, it applies to all of tennis' Grand Slam events—is that the men and women are receiving the same financial reward for their efforts. 

This is not a new development for the sport. The Australian Open and French Open also gave men and women the same payouts, but it speaks to how advanced tennis is in comparison to other sports and how big women's tennis has become. 

Vadim Ghirda/Associated Press

For instance, the United States women's national soccer team filed a wage-discrimination action against the U.S. Soccer Federation for getting paid one quarter of what the U.S. men are despite generating $20 million more in revenue, per ESPN.com. 

It's not an apples-to-apples comparison because the U.S. soccer teams have a collective bargaining agreement with the Federation, but it's no secret that female athletes are fighting to be put on equal financial footing with their male counterparts. 

ESPN's Michele Steele wrote in 2012 that some female basketball players will play in the WNBA, which had an average salary of $72,000, and overseas to supplement their income. 

Again, it's not a direct comparison because NBA revenues are vastly superior to those in the WNBA, but look at all the bad NBA contracts handed out to middling talents this summer compared to what the best WNBA players will make. 

There still isn't a perfect system in place that puts male and female athletes on the same pedestal, but the U.S. Open is an indication that in some instances things are starting to move in the right direction. 

All that remains is for the men and women to take the court in New York to determine who will win the 136th U.S. Open on both sides of the draw. If winning isn't enough, there's tremendous financial incentive to motivate them.