Maya Joint Forfeited $140,000 at the US Open, but Changed NCAA Rules Forever
When Maya Joint gave up six figures to preserve her college eligibility, she exposed a decades-old amateurism contradiction that finally broke the system open.
When I read through the 2024 US Open prize disbursement ledger, the single most jarring detail was a six-figure check that never reached the player who earned it on court. After battling through three demanding rounds of qualifying and stunning German veteran Laura Siegemund in the main draw, eighteen-year-old Australian sensation Maya Joint was entitled to $146,657 in official prize money. Instead, Joint had to walk away from that life-changing sum simply because she wished to attend college and compete for the University of Texas Longhorns women's tennis team.
That forfeiture laid bare the absurdity of an amateurism framework that had long outlived its practical rationale. While collegiate football and basketball players were openly signing multi-million-dollar Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) endorsement contracts, tennis prospects faced immediate loss of eligibility for accepting merit-based tournament earnings won through open athletic competition. It was an antiquated double standard.
The Anatomy of Bylaw 12.1.2.4.2.1
We checked the NCAA Division I bylaws governing pre-enrollment prize money to understand how this bizarre restriction originated. Under Bylaw 12.1.2.4.2.1, prospective tennis student-athletes were permitted to accept prize money before initial full-time collegiate enrollment, but only up to an arbitrary cap of $10,000 per calendar year, plus documented "actual and necessary expenses" for a specific event.
Those allowable expenses covered only basic necessities such as personal lodging, economy travel, and tournament registration fees. Crucially, the rule strictly prohibited athletes from accounting for essential developmental costs, including private coaching fees, family travel, or long-term training equipment. Furthermore, the $10,000 threshold had remained unadjusted for inflation for nearly two decades. If an athlete accepted a single dollar of prize money beyond that narrow threshold, their collegiate amateur status was instantly terminated. For Joint, taking the $146,657 she won on court would have rendered her ineligible before she ever set foot on campus in Austin.
Joining the Federal Antitrust Battle
Rather than allowing the issue to quietly fade into administrative history, Joint decided to take action. In March 2024, University of North Carolina tennis player Reese Brantmeier had filed a federal class-action antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina (Brantmeier v. NCAA). Brantmeier had similarly been forced to forfeit $50,000 in winnings from the 2021 US Open to protect her eligibility with the Tar Heels.
Joint joined the lawsuit as a co-named plaintiff, arguing that the NCAA's prize money caps represented an unlawful restraint of trade under the Sherman Antitrust Act. The legal complaint highlighted the stark hypocrisy between Olympic athletes (who were allowed to collect six-figure national medal bonuses from governing bodies while retaining NCAA eligibility) and junior tennis players who were penalized for excelling on professional tours.
| Rule Dimension | Pre-2026 Regulation (Bylaw 12.1.2.4.2.1) | Post-2026 Brantmeier Settlement |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-Enrollment Prize Cap | $10,000 annual limit above basic event expenses | No limit; athletes keep 100% of tournament earnings |
| Allowable Expense Deductions | Strict: lodging and transit only, excluding coaches | Complete freedom to accept total prize check |
| Sports Covered | Applied with varying restrictions by sport | Universal elimination of pre-enrollment caps across all sports |
| Eligibility Consequence | Immediate loss of college amateur status | Full NCAA collegiate eligibility preserved |
A Landmark Settlement for Future Generations
The mounting legal pressure achieved what decades of athletic lobbying could not. In April 2026, the NCAA agreed to a comprehensive $2.02 million preliminary settlement to resolve the Brantmeier class action, which received formal preliminary approval from U.S. District Judge Loretta C. Biggs in June 2026. Under the settlement terms, the NCAA agreed to permanently eliminate all pre-enrollment prize-money caps for student-athletes across all collegiate sports.
What strikes me as genuinely joyful about the outcome is the lasting clarity it provides for future generations of young players. Incoming student-athletes no longer have to choose between keeping the hard-earned prize money they won with their own racquets and pursuing a higher education. Maya Joint may have walked away from six figures on Court 11 in New York, but her courage in challenging the system ensured that no junior champion will ever have to make that unfair sacrifice again.
Sources
Every factual claim above traces to one of these. Links open in a new tab.
- Maya Joint Forfeits US Open Prize Money for NCAA Eligibility
- NCAA Agrees to Settle Prize-Money Antitrust Lawsuit with Tennis Players
- NCAA Settles Groundbreaking Prize Money Class Action
- NCAA Division I Manual: Amateurism and Prize Money Regulations
- Federal Court Approves Preliminary Settlement in Brantmeier v. NCAA
