The last ATP Masters 1000 title of the season comes down to Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton, and there is close to a million euros riding on it. Whoever lifts the trophy at the Paris La Défense Arena on Sunday will also take home the biggest cheque of the week.
The champion will receive €974,370 (about $1.08 million) and 1,000 ranking points. The runner-up will leave with €532,120, about $592,800, and 650 points. Those figures sit inside a total prize pool of €6,309,095 for 2026, an increase of 2.94 percent on last year’s €6,128,940. The winner’s cheque is now up 2.93% from the amount that Jannik Sinner won at the 2025 final against Felix Auger-Aliassime at approximately €946,600.
For both finalists, the money comes with a first. Neither man had ever reached the final in Paris before this week, at an event where Novak Djokovic holds the record with seven titles. Djokovic’s own week ended early, when qualifier Rinky Hijikata beat him in the second round.
The second seed, Alcaraz, is playing his 11th Masters 1000 final and is on an eight-match winning streak, having won the title in Vienna last week. He beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals without facing a break point. Shelton, the third seed, came from a set down to beat Frenchman Luca Van Assche 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
It is his third Masters 1000 final and the first outside Canada, where he has won back-to-back titles in Toronto in 2025 and this August. Alcaraz leads their head-to-head 3-1, but Shelton won their most recent meeting in five sets at the US Open.
“I really want to take revenge against Ben,” Alcaraz said after his semifinal. Whatever happens, the rest of the field has already been paid according to how far they went.
How much prize money does each round earn at the Paris Masters?
The singles prize money for the 2026 Rolex Paris Masters breaks down as follows:
- Champion: €974,370 and 1,000 points
- Runner-up: €532,120 and 650 points
- Semifinalists: €290,960 and 400 points
- Quarterfinalists: €158,700 and 200 points
- Third round: €84,890 and 100 points
- Second round: €45,520 and 50 points
- First round: €25,220 and 10 points
- Second qualifying round: €12,920
- First qualifying round: €6,765
That means Ruud and Van Assche each earned €290,960 for reaching the last four. Each round is worth about 2.9 per cent more than in 2025, and those who lost the first round still get over €25,000 per game.
The amount of the prize pot has increased gradually over the last few years. In 2020, during the pandemic, the total fell to €3,151,145, and it dropped again to €2,603,700 in 2021. It more than doubled to €5,415,410 in 2022 as prize money recovered after the pandemic, overtaking the €5,207,405 on offer in 2019. Since then, it has risen every year, to €5,779,335 in 2023, €5,950,575 in 2024 and €6,128,940 in 2025. Back in 2006, the entire tournament offered €2.2 million, less than half of what is on offer now.
For decades, the tournament has taken place in Bercy, before relocating in 2025 to the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, a multi-purpose arena and home to the Rugby union team Racing 92. It is also the last chance for players to earn points before the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, which begin on November 15. Alcaraz and Shelton have both already qualified for Turin, so on Sunday the prize is a first Paris title, 1,000 points and close to a million euros. For one of them, it will be the perfect send-off before the season finale.