New Delhi, Aug. 21 -- Two weeks ago, the US Open announced the "largest purse in tennis history," for the 2025 edition. The final Grand Slam of the season, which gets underway in New York on 24 August, will have a total prize pot of $90 million, with the men's and women's singles champions set to pocket a cool $5 million each. It is a dazzling sum, dazzling enough to maintain the illusion of equal pay in tennis.

While the four Grand Slam tournaments (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open) do offer equal prize money, they constitute only eight weeks on a 11-month-long calendar. Outside of the majors, women's players continue to earn significantly less.

The disparity is apparent even at two of the biggest US Open tune-up eve...