Tennis prize money will be equal between men and women
It took more than three decades after the formation of the Women’s Tennis Association before all four Grand Slam tournaments agreed to give the same prize money to female and male players. Now the women’s tour promises to ensure that its athletes receive an identical salary at other top events in the coming years.
The St. Petersburg, Florida-based WTA announced on Tuesday that it is reviewing its season calendar and rules about which players must participate in certain tournaments, while also establishing a “path to equal prize money.”
The plan is to have equal payouts for all rounds of singles on the joint WTA-ATP 1000 and 500 events — the two tiers directly below the four Slams — by 2027, and to ensure that WTA-only 1000 and 500 events which are played at the same time, but in different locations, as their ATP-only 1000 and 500 equivalents offer the same money as those counterparts by 2033.
All changes must be approved by the WTA Board of Directors in August, something the tour expects. The proposals include increasing the number from 1,000 tournaments to 10, expanding events in Beijing (2024), Cincinnati (2025) and Canada (2025) to two weeks with larger fields; new rules to boost the participation of leading players in the biggest events; and creating singles rankings based on the top 18 results — not just the top 16 — plus the WTA Finals.
An example of the kind of pay gap currently going on: when Iga Swiatek won the 2022 Italian Open, she received a check for just over 330,000 euros (about $365,000), which was less than half of the roughly 835,000 euros (more than $365,000). $900,000) that Novak Djokovic earned for winning the men’s title in Rome that year.
In April, Angelo Binaghi, president of the Italian tennis federation, said the country’s premier tournament aims to give equal prize money to women and men from 2025. “It is our hope that this commitment will be realized at more WTA events.”
Billie Jean King, who was the leading voice when the modern WTA was founded in 1973, says she was motivated to help create a professional tour for women after she earned $600 for her 1970 championship in Italy, nearly $ 3,000 less than Ilie Nastase got for his run to the trophy there.
The US Open was the first major tournament where women and men paid the same, beginning in 1973. The Australian Open finally established prize money equal in 2001; the French Open gave its two 2006 singles champions the same amount and spread it over each round in 2007; Wimbledon committed to equal pay across the board in 2007.
“Fifty years after the players found strength in unity, I am proud that the WTA continues to be a global leader focused on providing opportunity,” King said, “and I hope that through her example be inspired.”
