This year’s champion at the Cincinnati Open will be handed prize money worth 75 percent less than that of last year’s winner, the tournament officials have announced.

The total prize money pool has been slashed by $1.8 million in a major reduction in payouts to players.

The decision was taken due to the financial impact caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the decision has been made so far only for the male players in the event. Nothing has been announced yet for the female players playing the WTA event. Although, it is expected that those playing the later rounds in the women’s draw will also see huge cuts in prize money.

Some players will benefit from new changes

The prize money available this year will be $4.2 million as compared to $6 million last year.

While the new changes will affect the players who go deep into the draw, those in the qualifying and playing the first two rounds of the tournament will take home more as compared to last year.

The champion will leave with just $285,000 as compared to $1,114,225 that Daniil Medvedev took home last year for winning the event.

The runner-up will earn $185,015, which will be $378,990 less than last year’s payout.

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Players playing in round 1 and round 2 will take home $2,515 and $4,330 more than that of 2019, respectively.

Rankings points will be unaffected and no changes have been made there.

Cincinnati Open and US Open at the same venue

The organizers of the Western and Southern Open had already announced in June that the tournament will be shifted to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, where the US Open is held annually.

This move was made to reduce the risk for players due to travel, thus having both events at the same venue.

The Citi Open in Washington was recently canceled due to the pandemic.

Following this, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) released a statement saying, “The USTA will create a safe and controlled environment for players and everyone else involved in both tournaments that mitigates health risks that was approved by the State of New York and also conforms to the standards put forth by New York City and the federal government.”

“We constantly base our decisions regarding hosting these tournaments on our three guiding principles that include safety and health of all involved, whether hosting these events are in the best interest in the sport of tennis and whether this decision is financially viable. We are confident we remain in-line with all three guiding principles,” the statement added.  

Source – ubitennis