The 2026 French Open kicks off in Paris with the biggest payday in tournament history. Roland Garros has confirmed a total purse of €61.7 million ($71.7 million), up 9.53% on 2025 and a new record for the Grand Slam.

Men’s and women’s singles champions will each walk away with €2,800,000 ($3.25 million) when the finals close on the second weekend of June. That figure is a 9.8% increase over what italico:Carlos Alcaraz and italico:Coco Gauff pocketed when they lifted the trophies in 2025 — and it comes at a moment when top players are pushing all four Slams to share more of their commercial revenue with the field.

The Fédération Française de Tennis [1] has also lifted payouts in the early rounds and in qualifying, the part of the draw where most professional players earn their living.

What is the total prize money at Roland Garros 2026?

The 2026 edition will distribute €61,723,000 ($71.7 million) across all draws — singles, doubles, wheelchair, quads and qualifying. That is a €5.37 million ($6.24 million) jump on the €56.4 million paid out in 2025.

The federation emphasized that early-round purses received the steepest percentage increases. First-round losers in singles — who travel the world to play one match and exit — see their checks rise 11.5%, the largest jump in the table.

For US viewers tracking the 2026 clay-court swing after the Miami Open and ATP Rome, Roland Garros is the biggest paycheck on the dirt.

How much do the French Open singles champions earn in 2026?

The men’s and women’s singles champions will each receive €2,800,000, equivalent to about $3.25 million at the May 2026 ECB reference rate near 1.16.

The top of the payout ladder shows how steeply the money concentrates:

  • Champion: €2,800,000 ($3.25M)
  • Runner-up: €1,400,000 ($1.63M)
  • Semi-finalist: €750,000 ($870K)
  • Quarter-finalist: €470,000 ($546K)

That means the trophy is worth exactly italico:double a runner-up finish — a 50% premium that is sharper at Roland Garros than at any other Slam this year.

What is the Roland Garros 2026 prize money by round?

Here is the singles payout for every round of the main draw:

  • Champion: €2,800,000 ($3.25M)
  • Final (runner-up): €1,400,000 ($1.63M)
  • Semi-finals: €750,000 ($870K)
  • Quarter-finals: €470,000 ($546K)
  • Fourth round: €285,000 ($331K)
  • Third round: €187,000 ($217K)
  • Second round: €130,000 ($151K)
  • First round: €87,000 ($101K)

The qualifying draw — the 128-player gauntlet that runs the week before the main event — pays between €24,000 ($28K) for a first-round qualifying loss and €48,000 ($56K) for the players who win three matches to reach the main draw.

For comparison, tennis players outside the top 100 typically earn the bulk of their annual income at the four Slams. A first-round paycheck at Roland Garros now covers the cost of an entire clay-court swing for many of them.

How does Roland Garros compare to the other 2026 Grand Slams?

The €2.8 million payout puts the French Open champion ahead of the Australian Open 2026 winner, who took home €2.38 million in Melbourne in January. It is also broadly in line with recent Wimbledon levels. The US Open in Flushing Meadows is expected to top the table again later this summer when its prize money is announced in August.

Roland Garros stands out, however, for its equal-pay structure: men and women have received identical prize money since 2007, and the increases announced for 2026 apply at the same percentage to both draws.

When does Roland Garros 2026 start and who is defending?

Qualifying runs May 18-23, 2026. The main singles draws begin on Sunday, May 24, with 128 players in each event.

  • The women’s singles final is set for Saturday, June 6.
  • The men’s singles final closes the tournament on Sunday, June 7.

italico:Carlos Alcaraz returns to defend the men’s title after winning the longest French Open final in history in 2025, a five-set epic that lasted five hours and 29 minutes on June 8. On the women’s side, italico:Coco Gauff is back as defending champion after taking out Aryna Sabalenka — her first French Open trophy and one of the most lucrative single days of the 2025 season for American tennis.

US players to watch in Paris include italico:Madison Keys, fresh off a strong North American hard-court spring, and italico:Jessica Pegula, a consistent presence in the deep rounds of recent Slams.

Bottom line

Roland Garros is now the most lucrative two weeks on the European clay calendar. A €2.8 million champion’s check is the headline, but the most important number for the broader tour is the €87,000 floor: a first-round loser at the French Open will earn more in a single afternoon in Paris than many ATP and WTA Tour-level events pay their champions across an entire week.

If you are watching from the US, the next dates to circle are May 24 for the main draw and June 7 for the men’s final — when the next $3 million payday will be decided on Court Philippe-Chatrier.