It took more than three decades after the
founding of the Women’s Tennis Association for all four
Grand Slam tournaments to agree to give the same prize money to female and male players. Now the women's tour is pledging to make sure its athletes also get identical paychecks at some other top-tier events in the coming years.
The St. Petersburg, Florida-based WTA announced Tuesday that it is revising its season calendar and rules about which players must enter certain tournaments, while also setting up what it called a "pathway to equal prize money."
The plan is to have matching payouts for women and men across all rounds of singles at the joint WTA-ATP 1000 and 500 events — the two levels right below the four Slams — by 2027, and to make sure that single-week WTA-only 1000 and 500 events that are being played at the same time, but at different sites, as their ATP-only 1000 and 500 equivalents are offering the same money as those counterparts by 2033.
"Players that say, ‘Why do we have to wait?' are right, 100%. But it can't happen tomorrow. We can't change this overnight. But I'm very excited that we have a plan now — not to just sit and talk about this and hope that somebody will help us do the right thing that's appropriate and deserving for these players," WTA Chairman & CEO Steve Simon told The Associated Press. "We're going to make it happen. Maybe we can even get there faster, if the revenues grow."
Simon said the additional money will come from incremental boosts by the tournaments themselves and from revenue projected to arrive from broadcast, data and sponsorship rights via
WTA Ventures, the tour's commercial enterprise that launched in March. CVC Capital Partners, an investment manager, contributed $150 million for a 20% stake.