体坛英语新闻：French Open to have 4m euros more in total prize money than in 2015

PARIS, April 13 (Xinhua) -- French Tennis Federation (FFT) announced Wednesday that the total prize money of this year's French Open will see a raise of four million euros comparing to that of last year.

"The 2016 Roland Garros tournament will award prize money of 32,017,500 euros in total, a 14% increase compared with last year," read a French Open press release via email.

The total prize money was 28,028,600 euros for Roland Garros in 2015.

As in last year, the most significant increase concerns players who lose in the second or third round, as well as in the Round of 16: their prize money will increase by nearly 20% compared with last year.

"This noticeable increase in prize money at Roland Garros is the final raise mentioned in the four-year plan drawn up for 2013 to 2016," explains Tournament Director Guy Forget.

"In total, the tournament's prize money will have increased by an historic 70% during this four-year period, with a particular focus on those players who are eliminated in the first week, who have seen their earnings double," he added.

Singles champions of this year's French Open will each earn two million euros, 200,000 euros more than last year's Stan Warinka and Serena Williams.

The total prize money at earlier's 2016 Australian Open is 44 million Australian dollars (about 29.87 million euros), while that of last year's Wimbledon Open is 26.75m pounds (about 33.69m euros) and 42.3m U.S. dollars (about 37.50m euros) in U.S. Open.

The 2016 Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam of a professional tennis calendar, starts here on May 22.