“In my country, so many think that I’m a freaking billionaire,” said Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania, ranked 50th. “But trust me, it’s not like that.”

Since stars like Federer leaned on Grand Slam tournaments for larger slices of revenue for the players, prize money has increased, with a particular eye on helping players who lose early. A first-round loss at this French Open is worth double what it was in 2011, and second- and third-round losses are more than double — now about $67,000 and $114,000.

The United States Open paid $19,000, $31,000 and $50,000 for Rounds 1, 2 and 3 in 2010; the amounts last year were $39,500, $68,600 and $120,200.

For Eric Butorac, a doubles player who has been on the ATP Player Council for eight years and is now its president, the increases have “helped an immense amount” and are having a noticeable effect. Many players five years ago couldn’t afford to travel with a coach. Now “almost nobody” has come to Roland Garros without one, he said.

“Our intention was never to have players necessarily rolling in the dough,” he said. “What we wanted was that a player ranked 90 in the world could have the same experience, or a similar experience, to a top player and feel like they were on somewhat of a level playing field.”

With friends in the lower ranks, Federer and others at the top “understand the struggles, they wanted to help,” Butorac said. On the men’s side, the pool of players making at least a couple of hundred thousand dollars in prizes per year has grown to about 200 — 150 in singles and 50 in doubles, he estimated. He said he pulled in $180,000 last year, and had about $75,000 in expenses.