French Open 2017 prize money: Record reward on offer to Sir Andy Murray and co at Roland Garros

More prize money than ever before is on offer at this year’s French Open, with the men and women’s singles champions set to earn €2.1m (£1.8m).

Yet Roland Garros’ increase in player remuneration is not enough to elevate the tournament from its status as the least-lucrative of tennis’ four majors.

The total prize money pool in Paris is being increased by €4m to 36m, but the biggest pay cheque increases will come for those who exit in the early rounds.

Read more: How much will this year’s Wimbledon winner get paid?

First round qualifying losers still earn a cool €35,000 — a 16.6 per cent increase on last year’s equivalent prize.

Meanwhile the men’s and women’s singles winner will earn just €100,000 more than the €2m reward to champions Novak Djokovic and Garbine Muguruza last year, a five per cent increase.

In dollar terms, that equates to a $2.4m prize which is way below the $3.5m paid to last year’s US Open winners Stan Wawrinka and Angelique Kerber.

At the Australian Open earlier this year single’s champions Roger Federer and Kerber won the equivalent of $2.8m for their respective triumphs, while at Wimbledon in July the eventual winner will earn a similar amount after the All England Club boosted its winner’s prize from £2m to £2.2m.