Us Open 1st Place Prize Money

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

Novak Djokovic is seven wins away from doing something that no men's singles tennis player has done since 1969: completing a calendar Grand Slam.

After winning the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon earlier in the year, Djokovic will go for the elusive sweep at the U.S. Open, which gets underway Monday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. Djokovic is already a three-time U.S. Open champion.

There's more on the line for Djokovic, too. He has 20 career Grand Slam titles, tied for the most in men's singles history with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, neither of whom are playing in this year's U.S. Open. That gives Djokovic a clear opportunity to break that record with another strong showing in New York.

In women's singles, there hasn't been one dominant player in 2021, as three different women have won the first three major tournaments: Naomi Osaka (Australian Open), Barbora Krejcikova (French Open) and Ashleigh Barty (Wimbledon). Also, for the first time since 2003, neither Serena Williams nor Venus Williams will be playing in the U.S. Open.

Here's more important information to know heading into this year's event.

Prize Money Breakdown

There is a total purse of a record $57.5 million that will be awarded at this year's event, according to theU.S. Open website, with the majority going to men's and women's singles players.

Here's the prize breakdown for those two tournaments:

Winner: $2.5 million

Runner-up: $1.25 million

Semifinalists: $675,000

Quarterfinalists: $425,000

Round of 16: $265,000

Round of 32: $180,000

Round of 64: $115,000

Round of 128: $75,000

Tournament Draw Breakdowns

Men's

It's hard to look at the men's draw and imagine that Djokovic, the No. 1 seed, won't make a run to the final. He's been dominant in 2021, and he's reached the U.S. Open final eight times before, all coming between 2007-18. Last year, he was disqualified in the fourth round for unintentionally hitting a line judge with a ball.

Djokovic's toughest competition in the top half of the bracket will likely be No. 4-seeded Alexander Zverev and No. 6-seeded Matteo Berrettini. Zverev reached the final at last year's U.S. Open (in which he lost to Dominic Thiem), and he won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics earlier this month. Berrettini reached the final at Wimbledon last month, marking his best showing at a Grand Slam event.

However, Djokovic should have no trouble getting to the end of the U.S. Open bracket. It's just a matter of who he'll be facing when he gets there.

The bottom of the bracket is more wide open. Among the top challengers are No. 2-seeded Daniil Medvedev, No. 3-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas and No. 5-seeded Andrey Rublev. None of those three is yet to win a Grand Slam title.

Tsitsipas will also face a tough test as soon as the tournament begins. The 23-year-old from Greece has a first-round matchup against 34-year-old Englishman Andy Murray, a three-time Grand Slam winner who won the U.S. Open in 2012. In 14 previous appearances at the U.S. Open, Murray has never lost in the opening round.

If Tsitsipas can get past Murray, he could be poised for a deep run that ends with him facing Djokovic for the title. Medvedev will also pose a great challenge, considering the 25-year-old Russian has reached at least the semifinals each of the past two years at the U.S. Open.

Women's

While there's no overwhelming favorite to win the women's singles tournament, there are quite a few players who are likely to have strong showings and could end up capturing the title.

Barty enters as the No. 1 seed, but she's never made it past the fourth round in five previous U.S. Open appearances. The 25-year-old Australian has also never reached the final at a major tournament played on a hard court, with her two career Grand Slam titles coming on the clay at the French Open and the grass at Wimbledon.

This will be Barty's first U.S. Open appearance since losing in the fourth round in 2019. Among her biggest challengers in the top half of the bracket are No. 4-seeded Karolina Pliskova and No. 7-seeded Iga Swiatek. Pliskova reached the finals at the 2016 U.S. Open and this year's Wimbledon. Swiatek is seeking her second Grand Slam title and her first since the 2020 French Open.

The most notable player in the bottom half of the bracket is No. 3-seeded Naomi Osaka, who will look for her second Grand Slam title of the year. She's had a ton of recent success at the U.S. Open, having won the tournament two of the past three years, including in 2020.

Osaka has won four career Grand Slam events, all of which have come on hard courts. In order to make another deep run, she may have to find ways to get past No. 2-seeded Aryna Sabalenka and No. 5-seeded Elina Svitolina, as well as possibly No. 21-seeded Coco Gauff.

Although Osaka is the early favorite to win this year's U.S. Open, plenty of others could also capture the title. There should be some competitive matches along the way, but it would be surprising if Osaka doesn't at least reach the final.