£1.7 million just for one match: Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner set to pocket almost as much money as Australian Open title in exhibition

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are keeping their preparation for the Australian Open short and sweet with just a couple of exhibition matches enough to get their sharpness back. The first one comes against each other in the Hyundai Card Super Match in Incheon, South Korea, on January 10. With it comes a huge guaranteed prize pot of £1.7 million, almost as much as what one of them would earn winning the Australian Open.

The matchup sparks the return of one of tennis' most watched rivalries currently. The pair have played in a vast amount of big matches over the prior couple of years, with them regularly locking horns in Grand Slam and Masters 1000 finals, along with the ATP Finals at the end of 2025.

They are soon to commence battle for the Australian Open. Despite having different motives, both have one goal: lifting the title. Alcaraz is looking to complete the career Grand Slam, with the major in Melbourne the only one he has not lifted, whilst never making it past the quarter-final stage. The Spaniard will also be wanting to extend out the advantage as world number one over Sinner, who is set to go into a period with nothing to defend thanks to his doping suspension. He is looking to make it three on the trot Down Under as well as continuing his mini purple patch against the world number one.

The money will always be a talking point, with a staggering £2 million on the line for the winner to take home. As high as this figure is, Alcaraz and Sinner are set to earn almost as much after playing one exhibition match against each other. Not a bad sum of money for one day's work.

It is not the first huge payday the two players have got from featuring in exhibitions. A few months ago, the pair were headlining the second edition of the Six Kings Slam, which also featured Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Each of them earned a participation fee of $1.5 million (£1.1 million) just for turning up in Riyadh. The winner, which was Sinner after defeating Alcaraz in the final, collected an extra $4.5 million (£3.3 million) which added to the participation fee saw him walk away with $6 million (£4.4 million). All for just winning three tennis matches. This was the second time that this had occurred after the Italian won the lucrative tournament in 2024.

Alcaraz has also benefited off this, with more recent examples. He featured in a brace of exhibition events in December. He first travelled to New Jersey to feature in A Racquet at the Rock, where he lost to Frances Tiafoe. The next day, he was in Florida facing off against Joao Fonseca in the Miami Invitational where he later teamed up with Jessica Pegula in a doubles contest. In these events, it was rumoured he earned more than what he collected for winning Wimbledon back in 2024, which totalled up to £2.7million.

This proves that there is a lot of money on the line in exhibition events. This is something that Alcaraz and Sinner have capitalised on, with fans able to immerse themselves in another dramatic head-to-head with the two rivals. This could be the start of another dramatic and unpredictable season between the pair, with it looking like they will be fighting tooth and nail against one another while the chasing pack flounder behind.

After their match in South Korea, they will both head straight to Melbourne. After competing in the one-point slam, the pair of them will have one more match against a high calibre opponent. Alcaraz is set to take on home hero Alex de Minaur on January 15, while Sinner will face off against Felix Auger-Aliassime on January 16, with the Australian commencing from January 18 - February 1.