US Open stars stunned after being given thousands in vouchers including free food, travel and even pre-paid credit cards

TENNIS stars competing at the US Open have been showered with a generous set of free vouchers. The US major is already a lucrative endeavour for all players involved, especially after they announced a huge boost to the tournament’s prize pool. Players at the US Open have received a set of free gifts Credit: AP The stars were delighted with $3,500 in vouchers and credit Credit: Shutterstock Editorial The total prize fund has jumped 20 per cent since last year, and a huge 44 per cent since the 2024 edition of the tournament. Players will bag themselves a total of $109million (£80m) at the tournament this year, up from $90m (£66m) last time around. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! That pool includes a staggering $5.5m (£4m) to the singles grand slam champions. Even those who fall at the first hurdle will pocket $140,000 (£103,000) just for reaching the main draw – but the winning didn’t stop there. Players at the tournament were given a significant sum as a gift to get them through the tournament and make their stay more comfortable while competing at Flushing Meadows, New York. Each competitor was given a $2,500 Uber Eats gift card, on top of a further $1,000 credit on an American Express card. One player who was especially chuffed with the bonus was British qualifier Toby Samuel, who stormed into the second round with a win over Tomas Machac. He told Sky Sports, via the Express: “At first, I thought all we got was a towel and a hat, Most read in Sport CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS British qualifier Toby Samuel was delighted by the gifts Credit: Shutterstock Editorial “But then obviously I heard that you also get an Uber voucher for $2,500 and I was like, ‘no way!’ “And then you get a $1,000 Amex card, which obviously gave to my girlfriend to be happy. I heard people have been Uber Eats-ing laptops and Airpods.” A video shared on the US Open’s social media pages featured a number of players reacting to being given the vouchers. One star said “Everyone’s talking about it,” while another labelled the gifts “clutch.” A third simply exclaimed “hallelujah” in response to the generous bonuses. US Tennis chief Craig Tiley will be delighted to hear the gesture went down so well, after introducing the gifts in an effort to make the US Open as welcoming as possible for stars. He said: “You will see the U.S. Open continue to be a very player-friendly event. “I think our desire to increase the amount that we put on the table was driven really within the organisation, the sense that we need to ​give the players a fair ​share.” The moves come after major superstars such as Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka protested that tennis players are not seeing enough of the financial proceeds from the attention they bring to tournaments. Comment now