Indian Wells surprises the tennis world with a reduction in its prize money

Diego Jiménez Rubio | 27 Feb 2026 | 19.31

Indian Wells reduces the prize money. Photo: gettyimages

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What goes up must come down. However, this basic rule did not seem to apply to the prize money of the major tournaments, which had been steadily increasing since the end of the COVID hiatus, although not to the extent that the players had been demanding in the final rounds. To make matters worse, the organization of Indian Wells 2026 has decided to reduce the money distributed among the players, in an unprecedented decision.

Protests from the world's top tennis players regarding the lavishness of the major tournaments on the calendar, which earn substantial profits and do not distribute the money that should go to the best players in the world, have become increasingly common, numerous, and intense. The critical situation of COVID led to a significant increase in the prize money to be distributed in the qualifying rounds and early stages of the most important events, a move that had been demanded for a long time and was as necessary as it was fair.

Money for mixed doubles triples, while all individual rounds are reduced by over 4%

Democratizing tennis was the top priority, and all tournaments were making very noticeable increases in the prize money for those rounds, freezing or even reducing the amounts for winners, finalists, and semifinalists. For some time now, the world's top players have been demanding increases also in the final rounds. They are the ones generating all the economic benefits extracted by each tournament and do not feel acknowledged.

While some events are starting to respond to these legitimate demands, breaking records in prizes for all rounds, the organizers of Indian Wells 2026 have chosen a different path. After tripling the prize money allocated to the mixed doubles tournament in an attempt to attract top players and create media buzz for the event, the figures for the men's and women's doubles draws have been revealed (with a 2% increase) along with the singles, showing a significant reduction. In fact, the total prize money for this edition is 18,831,450$ (summing both individual draws), representing 1.83% less than last year's.

How is this possible? Has the Californian tournament truly chosen to boost mixed doubles at the expense of impoverishing all players competing in the individual draws? It seems so. This is the only way to explain reductions of over 4% in the money to be distributed in each round of the men's and women's individual draws, including the qualifying rounds. An absolutely counter-cultural move that may stir controversy among players.