Australian Open increases purse to $50m

Australian Open organisers say they will offer $50 million in prize money for the 2017 tennis tournament, including $3.7 million each to the men's and women's singles champions.

It is a 14 per cent increase in prize money from 2016, and offers $50,000 to a first-round loser in the tournament which begins on Jan. 16.

Tournament director Craig Tiley said: "we are committed to further improving the pay and conditions on the international tennis tour to ensure every professional tennis player is properly compensated."

The US Open has the largest prize money for a grand slam tournament, a purse of $63.89 million and $4.83 million for each of the singles champions.