The world’s number one Iga Swiatek hopes the women’s tennis association will do more to reduce the gender pay gap outside the sport’s biggest tournaments.
Tennis has sought to lead the battle for gender equality over the past few decades with equal prize money for men and women at the four Grand Slam tournaments. But in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tournaments, the prize pool is quite often smaller than on the Men’s Tour, which is run by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
Iga Swiatek said one of the main priorities for the Tour, which this year marks its 50th anniversary, should be to ensure that the tournaments are more attractive to players, sponsors, organizers and fans.
“For sure, I would like to see the WTA expand from a business point of view, become more popular, close the gap with the ATP in terms of money funds, and attract more fans”, said Iga Swiatek.
A report by the Financial Times said that since the middle of last year, the ATP has offered players 75% more prize money for tournaments, excluding Grand Slams, than the WTA’s prize money.
“Our tennis has the same emotions as the men’s. There is something you can find in women’s tennis that you won’t find in the ATP. There are top players who perform great in most tournaments”, said the Polish tennis player.
American Jessica Pegula, world’s No 3 and a member of the WTA Women’s Tennis Council, agrees with Iga Swiatek.
“I hope we can continue to push for equal prize money in all tournaments once we’re on TV more”, said Jessica Pegula. She pointed to the United Cup mixed team tournament earlier this season as a way to achieve this.
