56. SAME WORK, LESS PAY

Many people are living with the misconception that tennis is one of the few sports in which equality exists but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Not only are there endless examples of poorer treatment given to the women on the tour (less tournaments, less tournament hospitality opportunities, shameful scheduling, blatant sexism (Madrid Open 2023)) but there is also the major issue of unequal prize money.

Now Billie Jean King is a legend and what she has done for womens tennis is off the planet and incredible, but there is still a lot of work to be done, particularly with respect to prize money.

Take this week for example, and the Italian Open which is being staged in Rome. As reported in the New York Times yesterday, the men and women competing in this annual event will play the same best-of-three-sets format, on the same courts and for the same ticket price for spectators, but the prize money pot for the men is a lofty $8.5 million, whilst the women are competing for $3.9 million. The winner of the mens event will take home the princely sum of €1,105,265 (c.$1,207,825) whilst the winner of the women’s event only €521,754 (c. $570,169) . Where is the justice in that! Half the money for the same amount of work!

In the majority of the tournaments on the tennis tour, the men’s prize money exceeds the womens. In the few instances where it doesn’t, the men typically receive hospitality and hence, have no costs associated to hotels etc to counter the difference in prize money. The prize money in the Grand Slams however, is however, equal – thanks to BJK et al – and this is widely publicised, hence why people think that equality exists on the Tour as a whole.

This is yet another example of how the tennis governing bodies (the ITF, ATP, WTA) need to work together to resolve this issue and standardise such matters across the tours. Surely it is now time for the men and women to earn the same for doing the same job. It is only in the Grand Slams that the men play the best-of-five-set format and these tournaments have got it right so it must be time for the others to follow.

The prize money for doubles players is another issue but more on that another day!

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