Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner were aware it was coming — but only now is the full scale of the financial blow dealt to the top two men’s tennis stars laid bare.
Throughout the 2025 season, both players were destined to finish at the very top of the ATP Tour’s bonus-pool rankings — a system that awards substantial payouts to those who accumulate the most ranking points at major tournaments. Under this scheme, the incentive pool has swollen significantly: this year, the total bonus fund stands at $21 million, up from $11.5 million in 2022. However, with that increase come rigid eligibility requirements — requirements that ultimately worked heavily against Alcaraz and Sinner.
For Alcaraz, the situation looked straightforward: he led the bonus pool standings and was initially entitled to a $4.8 million share. But a key rule stipulates that a player’s reward is reduced by 25 percent for each prominent Masters 1000 event missed due to withdrawal or injury. Because Alcaraz skipped both the Canadian Open and the Shanghai Masters, his bonus was halved. Though he also missed the Madrid Open, he avoided further penalty — he attended the event and fulfilled his obligatory media commitments, which the ATP counts as participation.
As a result, instead of $4.8 million, Alcaraz will receive $2.4 million from the bonus pool — before tax. This sum will be added to his season’s prize money haul of $18,803,427, softening the blow but not eliminating it entirely.
Sinner’s case is far harsher. His substantial absence from four Masters 1000 events this year — three due to a doping ban running from February to May (which kept him out of Indian Wells, Miami, and Madrid), and one voluntary withdrawal from the Canadian Open, following his Wimbledon victory — disqualified him from receiving any bonus-pool funds. Under the rules, missing four events knocks a player out of bonus-pool eligibility entirely, and so despite Sinner having landed second in the 2025 standings — a spot that would ordinarily have netted him a check of more than $2 million — he gets nothing.
But the ATP’s financial ecosystem isn’t limited to that one bonus pool. In addition to the main reward — tied to overall rankings points at marquee events — there is a profit-sharing distribution scheme. This plan rewards players who earned points in Masters 1000 events during the prior season. Under the terms announced in October, 186 competitors who accrued such points in 2024 split a separate cash pool. For that year, Sinner was the top recipient with $1,333,770, followed closely by Alexander Zverev at $1,228,472, then Andrey Rublev, Alcaraz, and Daniil Medvedev — Rublev grabbed $698,474, Alcaraz $600,197, and Medvedev $589,667.
At the time of writing, the 2025 profit-sharing payouts have yet to be finalized — meaning both Alcaraz and Sinner may still benefit. For Alcaraz especially, this could provide welcome compensation for what he’s lost from the main bonus pool.
Further complicating matters for prize-money hunters, the ATP operates a smaller bonus pool tied to performance at ATP 500 events. And in that category, Alcaraz again sits at the top — meaning he’s also in line for additional funds from that pool, although the final amount remains pending.
In short, while both Alcaraz and Sinner dominated on court and ranked #1 and #2 by season’s end, strict adherence to ATP participation rules has clipped their wallets. Alcaraz — despite finishing first — saw his bonus slashed from nearly $5 million to $2.4 million. Sinner — despite also finishing in the top two — is left with nothing from that bonus pool at all. Meanwhile, profit-sharing distributions and payouts from ATP 500s might still cushion the blow — but the mark left by missed tournaments will be felt in big, tangible sums.
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