This IS the reality.
When people ask about prize money on the pro tennis tour, I think the majority of those ‘outside of the game’, think that it is equal for the men and women players. But this is SO far from the truth. Yes, of course at the Grand Slam level, the prize money is equal and all credit for this must go to the great Billie Jean King (BJK) and the ‘Original 9″, made up of BJK, Rosie Casals, Nancy Richey, Judy Tegart Dalton, Kerry Melville Reid, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kristy Pigeon, Valerie Ziegenfuss, and Julie Heldman.
But, the reality is this. The Grand Slams (and some of the 1000 events) are pretty much the ONLY tournaments where the prize money/financial support is indeed equal for the two sexes. It’s certainly not the case elsewhere on the tour, and most definitely isn’t on the ITF tour.
At the lowest level – the $15K and $25K/35K events on the ITF tour, the prize money given to the men and women is almost on a par. In fact, the winner of the women’s singles earns slightly more – and when I say “slightly,’ I am talking about less than $200!
However, as a player moves up the rankings and starts to play the higher level tournaments, this is where the disparity really kicks in and it appears that no one is really talking about it, and certainly not doing anything about it! Maybe this is because the players are largely unaware of what their opposite sex is being paid, as the majority of tournaments are held in different geographical locations, or maybe it’s because the ATP (the governing body for the mens tour) make it very hard to actually find the prize money details on their website!
So here are some examples (based upon 2026 figures to date).
The first signs of real prize money inequality is seen at the ITF/Challenger 50 events where the winner of the women’s singles competition receives $6,260 gross. The winner of the mens equivalent event however, receives $9,500 gross (a difference of $3,240). And to make matters worse, and the disparity even greater, the men players have their accommodation/hospitality paid for. The women do not. This item is a personal expense.
Moving up to the ITF/Challenger 75 level and we see the gender pay gap increase further. The women’s singles winner of an ITF W75 event takes home $9,142 gross. The men’s winner gets $17,000 gross (a difference of $7,858). Hospitality in this instance, is provided by both the mens and women’s tournament organisers, but transport for the women is not guaranteed and there is no hospitality for women players who are in the qualifying competition (there is for the men).
At the ITF/Challenger 100 events, the pay gap extends even further. The singles winner of a women’s tournament receives $15,239 gross. The men’s equivalent gets $27,523 gross. A difference of $12,284. Mind blowing!
All of the above mentioned tournaments for the women are organised by the ITF. For the men, challenger events are staged by the ATP.
When the players move up to the 125 level, the WTA takes on the hosting of the women’s tournaments, although it doesn’t really recognise this level and fails to include titles won at this level in players’ profiles. This begs the question, ‘Why?’ – if an event is designated a WTA tournament, a title win should be acknowledged on the WTA website. WTA 125 events are not even included in the WTA calendar (they are separated out) – apparently ‘not worthy’ of inclusion.
The singles winner of a WTA 125 tournament grosses $15,500 – only marginally more than an ITF 100 event. The mens CH 125 singles winner however, receives $36,372 (gross) – $20,872 more than the woman who has won the singles event.
And it gets worse! In summary:
WTA 250 singles winner (Bogota): $37,390 gross; ATP 250 singles winner (Buenos Aires): $102,715 gross. A difference of $65,325.
WTA 500 singles winner (Ningbo): $164,000 gross; ATP 500 singles winner (Dallas): $529,945 gross. Difference: $365,945.
And here’s an interesting one from recently:
WTA 1000 in Dubai, the winner received $665,000 gross. The men’s event had the same prize money but was only designated an ATP 500 event. The equivalent WTA 500 event in Ningbo, China awarded the women’s singles winner $164,000 – a difference of over $500,000! Read that again – a difference of over half a million dollars!
Once a player reaches the 1000 level the prize money does level out (although not always) and at the Grand Slams the prize money is the same (thank you BJK). However, there is the age old argument at the Slams that the women players should be playing the best of 5 sets to justify this. But when you consider the prize money lower down the levels then maybe the best of three sets is justified as an element of ‘pay back’.
The picture for doubles players is equally as bad, if not worse. The prize money disparity is there and to add insult to it all, the prize money has to be shared by the two players.
Some figures to illustrate this:
ITF 15 women’s doubles winner: $477 gross (per player); ITF 15 mens doubles winner: $465 gross (per player). Not even enough to cover travel to the tournament.
It is worth noting here that all the figures included in this blog are of course before any foreign tax is taken off – which can be as much as 30%. Likewise all the figures included relate to the WINNER of the events in question. Spare a thought for those players who lost in the early rounds and went home with a gross income as low as $15 and a guaranteed loss of several hundreds of dollars.
ITF 35 women’s doubles winner: $881 gross (per player); ITF 25 mens doubles winner: $891 gross (per player). Might just cover travel to the venue and some food, but no accommodation.
ITF 50 women’s doubles winner : $1,147 gross (per player); CH 50 mens doubles winner: $1,490 gross (per player). A difference of $343.
ITF 75 women’s doubles winner: $1,672 gross (per player); CH 75 mens doubles winner: $2,490 gross (per player). A difference of $818.
ITF 100 women’s doubles winner: $2,786 gross (per player); CH 100 mens doubles winner: $8,367 gross (per player). A difference of $5,581.
WTA 125 women’s doubles winner: $3,000 gross (per player); CH 125 mens doubles winner: $10,696 gross (per player). A difference of $7,696.
WTA 250 doubles winner: $6,800 gross (per player); ATP 250 doubles winner: $17,860 gross. (per player). A difference of $11,060.
WTA500 doubles winner: $27,150 gross (per player); ATP500: doubles winner: $87,025 gross (per player). A difference of $59,875.
I know the arguments all state that doubles is not as popular as singles; hence the discrepancy in the prize money on offer. But why such a big difference in the prize money for men and women?
It really is time for change. The women’s game is suffering at the mid and lower levels. Players are disheartened and feel grossly under valued yet without them there would be no tournaments to ‘feed’ the top level events. I appreciate that there is more money in the men’s game generally as the men’s game is deemed ‘more attractive’ to sponsors and media but if the income from these sources were to be allocated to one tennis governing body (as opposed to the three that currently exist) then maybe the distribution of prize money, hospitality and tournaments could be a little more fairly balanced between the two sexes? I am sure the male players would not be too happy with a drop in the prize money levels but isn’t it time for some kind of action to at least try to reduce the enormous discrepancy that exists at the moment?
#realitytennis
(Sources: ITF Handbook, WTA Fact Sheets, ATP Handbook, http://www.perfect-tennis.com)
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