The players who earned most prize money at United Cup: Bencic and Gauff ahead of Swiatek as Hurkacz leads ATP stars
Poland won the 2026 United Cup, but their two top stars didn’t collect the biggest cheque as that honour went to Belinda Bencic as she was unbeaten in the singles at the tournament.
After back-to-back runners-up finishes at the team event with defeats to Germany in 2024 and the United States a year later, it was third time lucky for Poland as they beat Switzerland 2-1 in the final.
The team – comprising Iga Swiatek, Hubert Hurkacz, Katarzyna Kawa, Jan Zielinski, Daniel Michalski and Katarzyna Piter – finished the tournament unbeaten as they won their two group matches 3-0 without dropping a set before claiming 2-1 wins over Australia and the United States in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, respectively, to set up a final against the Swiss.
In the final, Bencic gave Switzerland the lead with a three-set win over Swiatek before Hurkacz drew Poland level as he won a three-setter against Stan Wawrinka. It went to the mixed doubles and Kawa and Zielinski got the better of Bencic and Jakub Paul.
Poland went home with the trophy, but it was Bencic who went home with the most money as she was 5-0 in singles and also won four of her five mixed doubles matches with Paul.
Top Prize Money Earners
Just a refresher on the prize money earnings structure for the tournament, the appearance fee is based on the player’s ranking and whether they were the No 1, No 2 or No 3 player for their country.
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The top stars, in other words the No 1-ranked players, earned the following participation fees:
1-10 – $250,000
11-20 – $125,000
21-30 – $100,000
31-50 – $60,000
51-100 – $40,000
101-250 – $30,000
251+ – $20,000
There were also prize money for group stage wins, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final (singles, mixed doubles and team win):
Group stage win: $45,000 | $8,500 | $6,000
Quarter-final win: $82,000 | $15,400 | $9,500
Semi-final win: $155,900 | $29,200 | $16,100
Final win: $296,200 | $55,800 | $27,300
Belinda Bencic – $848,300
Let’s get to the biggest earners with Bencic – who was named most valuable player after winning nine out of 10 matches – going home with nearly $1,000,000 as she earned a $125,000 participation fee, $624,100 for her five singles wins, $61,600 for winning four mixed doubles victories and $37,600 for the four Swiss wins.
Hubert Hurkacz – $667,000
The fit-again Pole won both his group matches, then lost his quarter-final clash against Alex de Minaur before beating Taylor Fritz and Wawrinka in the semi-final and final, respectively. He didn’t feature in any mixed doubles matches.
Hurkacz had a ranking of No 83 at the start of the tournament so his appearance fee was $40,000. He then won $542,100 in the singles and $64,900 in team earnings. That comes to a grand total of $647,000, but the official ATP website states he earned $667,000 so we will go with them.
Coco Gauff – $586,800
Even though the United States lost in the semi-final, Gauff was the third-highest earner thanks to her performances in the mixed doubles.
The American’s appearance fee was $250,000 and she was 3-1 in the singles ($282,900) and 3-1 in the mixed doubles ($32,400) for another $315,300. Then the team wins meant she earned another $21,500 for a total of $586K.
Iga Swiatek – $486,900
A very up-and-down tournament for the six-time Grand Slam winner as she was 3-2 in the singles and didn’t feature any mixed doubles encounters.
Swiatek is ranked No 2 so she claimed a $250,000 appearance fee and won her two group matches and quarter-final ($172,000) before losing in the singles in the semi-final and final. She collected $64,900 for the five team wins.
Alex de Minaur – $397,500
Australia’s campaign were ended by Poland in the quarter-final, but De Minaur was excellent as he won his two singles matches and one doubles encounter.
The home town hero collected a $250,000 appearance fee, $135,500 for his match wins ($127,000 singles and $8,500 doubles) and $12,000 for the two group wins.
Zizou Bergs – $366,900
Belgium were the surprise package as they reached the semi-final with No 43 Bergs leading from the front.
Bergs earned an appearance fee of $60,000 and also earned $291,400 for three singles wins and a doubles victory, and $15,500 for two team wins.
Barbora Krejickova – $354,500
Krejickova had a protected ranking of No 10 so she secured a $250,000 appearance fee. She won two singles and a mixed doubles match so earned another $98,500 and $6,000 for one group win.
