The Australian Open has increased its prize money for this month's tournament to a record AU$40million.
Tournament organisers announced a prize pot of AU$36.3million (€25million) in October, an increase of AU$3.3million on 2014, but have ramped it up again because of the weakness of the Australian dollar.
The men's and women's singles champions will each earn AU$3.1million while first-round losers at the tournament, which begins on January 19, will take home AU$34,500.
Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley said on ausopen.com: "Obviously this is not a decision we have taken without a lot of consideration.
"But we have an ongoing commitment to the players that we are determined to help improve the pay and conditions of life on the international tennis tour. We are honouring that commitment.
"We as an international tennis community still have some work to do in ensuring that the life of an international professional tennis player is properly compensated.
"This increase is simply the Australian Open honouring our pledge to the players that we will continue to look at all ways and means possible to get this right.
"That involves increasing prize money as well as cutting and where possible removing the costs associated with playing our events."
The announcement means the Australian Open's prize money has doubled since 2007 and increased by AU$14million over the past four years.
Prize money has been an increasingly hot topic in tennis over the past couple of years, with players pushing to be given a greater slice of revenue.
The grand slam tournaments have all responded while the ATP recently announced increases on the main tour and the second tier Challenger Tour.
The latter is a recognition that making a decent living as a tennis player is increasingly tough and the International Tennis Federation, which oversees tournaments at the lowest level of professional tennis, has also announced proposals to increase levels of pay.
