The astronomical prize money Jannik Sinner earned at the US Open

Jannik Sinner has made history as the first Italian man to win the US Open, defeating Taylor Fritz in straight sets on Sunday night.

Sinner cruised to a straight-sets victory, earning $3.6 million (£2.7 million, €3.3 million), pushing his season prize money to $10.6 million (£8.4 million, €9.8 million), the highest in the sport. Fritz took home $1.8 million (£1.4 million, €1.65 million), bringing his 2024 earnings to $4.4 million (£3.5 million, €4.1 million).

It's a nice little prize packet for a player whose spot in the tournament was under question after it was revealed that he had twice tested positive for low levels of a banned anabolic steroid. Last month, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced that its investigation determined Sinner bore "no fault or negligence", according to GB News.

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The ITIA concluded that the positive tests were linked to the use of a spray containing clostebol, administered by his physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi. However, the ruling sparked criticism from several tennis professionals, who voiced concerns about the lack of clear and consistent guidelines for substance testing in the sport.

While on Saturday, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka defeated American Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 for the US Open Women's title, also taking home a cool $3.6m (£2.7 million, €3.3 million) for her efforts. The title joins her back-to-back Australian Open wins in 2023 and 2024.

The US Open remains the most valuable Grand Slam to win in monetary terms in 2024, with $75 million (£59.9 million, €70.1 million) on the table in prize money, according to sport business news outlet Sportico.

Arguably the most prestigious, but not the highest paying, Wimbledon is the second-richest Grand Slam in 2024. Carlos Alcaraz and Barbora Krejcikova took home the top prizes of $3,375,000 (£2,700,000, €3,152,000)  from the $62.5 million (£50 million, €57.8 million).

The next richest tournament is the Australian Open – won this year by Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka, who both took home $2,100,000 (£1,675,000 €1,966,000) of the $57.60 million prize pool.

Of the four Grand Slams, the French Open was once again the lowest paying in 2024, but the money on offer is not to be sniffed at! Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek took out the top prize for winning the single titles, each claiming $2,564,000 (£1,975,000, €2,400,000) from the $56.5 million (£43.4 million, €53.5 million), as reported by Sportico.

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This means that this year, the Grand Slams alone have paid out more than $250 million in prize money over just four events, that's not including the likes of the Indian Wells, Miami Open, Monte Carlo Masters, and Madrid Open which all boast over US $1 million dollar top prize money.