Two major sporting finals took place on Sunday, September 13, with Alexander Zverev winning the US Open men’s singles title in New York and India lifting the Women’s Asia Cup in Dubai.
Both champions finished their tournaments with wins. The money attached to those victories, however, tells a very different story.
Zverev’s US Open victory came with a $5.5 million prize cheque, while the US Open’s total player compensation for the 2026 tournament reached a record $108 million. The women’s singles champion, Elena Rybakina, received the same $5.5 million prize.
India, meanwhile, won its eighth Women’s Asia Cup title after beating Sri Lanka by 72 runs in Dubai. The tournament is run by the Asian Cricket Council which is currently being headed by Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi. As a result, India despite being crowned the champions refused to take the trophy from him.
US Open champion’s cheque was 220 times the 2026 Asia Cup winner’s prize
At the Women’s Asia Cup 2026, India received $25,000 for winning the tournament. By comparison, the US Open 2026 singles champion received $5.5 million. That means the US Open champion’s prize was 220 times the 2026 Women’s Asia Cup winner’s cheque.
The comparison is not entirely like-for-like. Tennis’s Grand Slam prize money is distributed directly across individual players and rounds, while the Asia Cup is a team tournament involving national cricket boards. But the gap illustrates the very different economics surrounding the two sports.
US Open prize pool reaches record $108 million
The 2026 US Open offered a record $108 million in total player compensation, up from the previous year’s figure. The men’s and women’s singles champions each received $5.5 million. Runners-up earned $2.8 million, while semifinalists received $1.45 million each. Even a first-round singles exit came with a $140,000 cheque.
The tournament’s money is also distributed deep into the draw. A player reaching the quarter-finals earned $780,000, while a round-of-16 appearance was worth $480,000. The structure means players do not have to win the tournament to receive a substantial financial reward.
Women’s Asia Cup operates on a very different scale
The Women’s Asia Cup sits in a different part of the sports economy. The 2026 tournament featured eight teams and 15 matches, culminating in India’s 72-run victory over Sri Lanka.
Unlike the US Open, where prize money is a central part of the tournament’s commercial proposition, the Asia Cup is primarily a national-team competition. The financial value for participating boards and players extends beyond the winner’s cheque to areas such as broadcast rights, sponsorships, player contracts and the wider development of women’s cricket.
That makes the size of the prize purse only one measure of the tournament’s economic value. Still, the difference in direct prize money is difficult to ignore.
The bigger business-of-sports question
The comparison between the two finals highlights a broader difference in the economics of individual and team sports.
At the US Open, a single player can leave the tournament with millions of dollars based purely on performance. The $5.5 million winner’s cheque is part of a much larger commercial ecosystem built around global television audiences, sponsorships, ticketing and one of tennis’s four Grand Slam tournaments.
Women’s cricket is growing rapidly, but its tournament economics remain some distance behind those of the biggest events in global tennis. The gap becomes even more visible when the two champions are placed side by side.
Zverev’s Sunday ended with a $5.5 million US Open cheque. India’s Asia Cup triumph came in a tournament where the winner’s prize was $25,000. The trophies may have been similar in symbolism but surely the business behind them has more to it than merely a merely a symbol or metaphor.