Cincinnati Masters – Prize Money Breakdown
There is one major tournament in the Midwest of the United States every single year for tennis players to enjoy. The Cincinnati Masters might not seem particularly glamorous compared to some of the other locations, but it is viewed as the best tune-up for the US Open each year.
As one of the top tournaments on both tours, nearly every single high ranked player participate every single year. Do players get paid well for this tournament?
How much does the singles champion receive in prize money at the Cincinnati Masters? The men’s champion in singles received $1,114,225 in 2019, while the women’s champion received $502K. This was a slight increase over the prize money handed out in 2018, as the tournament works hard to increase payouts continually. While their focus has largely been on paying some of the lower-tiered players more money, the champion deservingly receives some pretty good money as well.
Total Prize Money Breakdown
The prize money for both the women’s and men’s tournament combined adds up to $6,056,280 in 2019. This was the first time prize money past $6 million, and it illustrates just how quickly things have evolved. In 2013, people were shocked to see the total prize money pass $3 million for the first time. To see it double in such a short window is pretty impressive for the tournament.
Even though the average fan might see the Cincinnati Masters event as something on equal footing for the men and women, they don’t exactly match up. That’s why women receive significantly less for winning. It’s a Premier 5 event, which hands out 900 points. The Masters 1000 series event for the men hands out 1000 points to the winner.
Roughly 2/3rd of the total prize money goes to the men, while the other 1/3 goes to the women. Again, this comes down to the importance of the tournament.
Below is a breakdown of how much players earn depending on how far they go into the Cincinnati Masters tournament.
Singles
| Men’s Singles (2019) | Prize Money |
|---|---|
| Winner | $1.14M |
| Runner-Up | $564K |
| Semi-Final | $289K |
| Quarter-Final | $149K |
| R16 | $75K |
| R32 | $39K |
| R64 | $22K |
| Women’s Singles (2019) | Prize Money |
|---|---|
| Winner | $502K |
| Semi-Final | $244K |
| Quarter-Final | $122K |
| R16 | $58K |
| R32 | $28K |
| R64 | $14K |
The Cincinnati Masters has been around for a very long time, but it didn’t turn into a marquee event on both tours until 2009. That was the first year that it became a mandatory event for men and women. It was expanded to a two-week tournament, and women started receiving significantly more pay.
Singles prize money during that change for the winners came out to $443,500. Making the first round only amounted to $8500, and qualifiers were paid $1000 and $2000 respectively. Fast forward to the present day, and those numbers look significantly different.
One of the biggest changes is the priority the Cincinnati Masters is giving to the players who just won a few matches before losing at the tournament. It is important to keep these players at a point where they are making enough money, or they simply will not be able to travel from tournament to tournament.
Doubles
| Men’s Doubles (2019) | Prize Money |
|---|---|
| Winner | $331K |
| Runner-Up | $162K |
| Semi-Final | $81K |
| Quarter-Final | $41K |
| R16 | $22K |
| R32 | $12K |
The doubles tournament at the Cincinnati Masters follows pretty much the exact same format as all of the similarly sized tournaments in the world. Men’s doubles winners split $331,300 after the tournament. For women, the winning team received $143,600.
| Women’s Doubles (2019) | Prize Money |
|---|---|
| Winner | $144K |
| Runner-Up | $73K |
| Semi-Final | $36K |
| Quarter-Final | $18K |
| R16 | $9.2K |
| R32 | $4.5K |
History of The Cincinnati Masters
The most successful player in the history of the Cincinnati Masters is Roger Federer. He is the owner of seven singles championships at the event, which blows away the rest of the competition. The only other player in the modern era to win more than that is Mats Wilander with his four trophies.
On the women’s side, the history of the tournament does not go back that far. Most top players skipped the Cincinnati Masters up until 2009. Since then, only Serena Williams has won the title twice. She was back-to-back champion in 2014-2015, which helped her stay strong on the hard courts in New York City shortly after.
The Bryan brothers have five Cincinnati Masters title to their name in doubles, showing that they are once again dominant at this level. They have failed to reach the final since 2014 though, so their reign could possibly be over for good.
As the oldest tennis tournament in the United States played in its original city, many look forward to the Cincinnati Masters open every year. They continue to make improvements to the venue, allowing tennis fans in the Midwest to gather together and watch the best of the best play since 1899.
