Women’s tennis’ elite WTA Tour has confirmed that, for the first time, its competitors will now receive equal prize money to male ATP Tour competitors at combined top-tier ‘1,000’ events.
While this had previously been the case at five of the ‘combined’ events- Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, and China- now the Canadian Open, Cincinnati Open, and Italian Open have been brought in line and will also offer equal prize money.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
In 2026, the Cincinnati and Canada Opens both offered a total prize purse of US$9,415,725 for the men's side of the tournament, and US$7,433,076 in the women’s category, figures that will now be made equal.
Similarly, the Italian Open in 2026 offered €8,235,540 ($9.29 million) in men's prize money and €7,228,080 in the women's category, which will now be equalized.
The sport's four Grand Slam majors had already committed to equal prize money.
Speaking on the announcement, WTA chair Valerie Camillo said: “The WTA is stepping up to deliver more for players and tournaments in 2027.
"Achieving equal prize money across all combined WTA 1000 tournaments is a major milestone for tennis. It demonstrates the WTA's continued commitment to leading the sports industry in delivering our athletes competitive and financial equality, and is a testament to the enduring nature of the founding vision of the WTA.
In announcing its 2027 calendar, composed of 55 events in 26 countries, the WTA also announced the launch of a new “Tournament Investment Fund”, through which it will disburse “direct financial support” to select markets where it can “have the greatest impact.”
This includes areas where it can help the WTA increase the number of ‘combined’ tournaments with equal prize pools.
For the 2027 WTA Tour, heavyweight sports marketing agency IMG has signed on as the production partner of choice for WTA Ventures, the women's tennis tour's commercial vehicle.
Through a multi-year tie-up, IMG will lead coverage delivery for over 50 events on the WTA Tour each year – including the end-of-season WTA Finals, as well as tournaments from the WTA 1000, 500, and 250 classifications.
It will provide a range of services – which will vary across different events – including host broadcast production, world feed production, venue connectivity, worldwide distribution, technical operations, and short-form content operations.
IMG will also be in charge of managing specialist production partners, including outside graphics providers.
