By Erik Gudris
In keeping with recent increases from the other Grand Slam tournaments, organizers of the French Open (Roland Garros) announced a similar increase in prize money for this year.
The total prize money purse for 2013 will rise to 22 million euros, an increase of over three million euros from last year. Winners of the men's and women's singles titles will each receive 1.5 million euros, up from $250,000 last year.
Organizers said their plan is also part of a larger goal to increase the prize money purse to 32 million euros by 2016.
The increase at the French Open does not quite match the prize money targets announced by organizers of the U.S. Open and Australian Open earlier this year. Those increases were due partially to increased pressure from ATP players who advocated for a larger percentage of tournament earnings.
By comparison, the U.S. Open will award prize money of over $33.6 million this year while the Australian Open earlier in January gave out A$30 million in prize money with more increases due in the future.
The French Open will take place this year from May 26th through June 9th.