Alcaraz and Sinner to earn more for one match than reaching Aus Open final | Tennis | Sport
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will return to unofficial competition this weekend in South Korea. The world Nos. 1 and 2 ended their season with a showdown in the final of the ATP Finals, won by Sinner, and will start 2026 by facing off again, this time in a lucrative exhibition match in Seoul.
The Spanish superstar and the two-time defending Australian Open champion decided not to enter any official tournaments in the lead-up to the first Grand Slam of the season. Instead, they have both stopped over in South Korea to play a friendly on Saturday before heading Down Under.
And by playing just one match in South Korea, Alcaraz and Sinner are expected to earn more than they would if they reach this year’s Aussie Open final and finish runner-up. According to Gazzetta, both men will pocket around £1.7million (€2million) for Saturday’s exhibition match.
That’s more than this year’s Australian Open runner-up will receive, with the singles finalists at Melbourne Park receiving £1.07m (A$2.15M) in prize money. Alcaraz or Sinner could only eclipse their Seoul payday by lifting the Australian Open trophy, which comes with a £2.059m (A$4.15M) winners’ cheque.
The Australian Open has announced a significant 16 per cent increase in the overall prize pool. When Sinner won the tournament for the second year running in 2025, he banked £1.7m (A$3.5m).
The Italian world No. 2 will head to Australia on a 15-match winning streak after picking up titles in Vienna, Paris, and the ATP Finals to end his 2025 season. And Sinner will be keen to get another win over Alcaraz, even if it’s not official, before a potential showdown in the Aussie Open final. As the top two seeds, they could only meet in the championship match.
For Alcaraz, the Seoul exhibition will be his first match of any kind since announcing his shock split from long-time coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero. A former world No. 1 and Grand Slam champion himself, Ferrero joined the team when Alcaraz was just 15 years old, but they parted ways in mid-December.
The world No. 1 is still working with Samuel Lopez, who is staying on as his head coach. Alcaraz also played exhibition matches against Frances Tiafoe and Joao Fonseca in America last month, but those came before he split from Ferrero.
After their duel in Seoul, Alcaraz and Sinner will both compete in the One Point Slam, a unique, one-day exhibition event staged in Melbourne Park ahead of the Australian Open, which sees the professionals take on amateurs with £500k (A$1m) on the line. Alcaraz will also face Alex de Minaur in an exhibition match during the Australian Open’s opening week, while Sinner is due to take on Felix Auger-Aliassime.
