The WTA Tour says all combined WTA 1000 events will award women and men equal prize money starting in 2027. That includes the Italian Open in Rome, where men’s total prize money this year was $9.6 million, compared with $8.3 million for women. The change also extends parity to two tournaments that haven’t adopted it: the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open.
The Rome pay gap
The Rome clay-court event will reach equal prize money nearly six decades after Billie Jean King won $600 for the 1970 Italian Open title, while Ilie Nastase received $3,500 for winning the men’s tournament that year. Those figures show how the disparity at the event has stretched from its early years to the current prize-money difference.
Italian Open organizers pledged in 2023 to offer equal prize money starting in 2025. They didn’t meet that commitment. The WTA announcement sets 2027 as the date when Rome and the other combined WTA 1000 tournaments will award women and men the same total prize money.
The other combined WTA 1000 events—Indian Wells, California; Miami; Madrid; and Beijing—already offer equal prize money. The WTA announcement said all four Grand Slam tournaments do, too.
“Achieving equal prize money across all combined WTA 1000 tournaments is a major milestone for tennis,” WTA chair Valerie Camillo said. “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.”
Changes to the tour calendar
The WTA also announced an expanded WTA 250-level tournament in Manila, Philippines, for 2027. Interest in home player Alex Eala, ranked 18th, preceded the announcement. The Philippines hosted a WTA 125-level tournament in January 2026.
For 2027, the annual number of WTA 500-level tournaments required of players ranked in the top 50 will fall from six to four. Their total base playing commitment will be 14 WTA tournaments plus the four Grand Slams. The changes address the calendar demands facing the tour’s highest-ranked players.
The WTA’s calendar changes follow its selection of Charlotte, North Carolina, to host the WTA Finals, its flagship event, for the next three years in an NBA arena. A working group chaired by third-ranked Jessica Pegula, the tour architecture council, guided the announcements.
“The WTA is stepping up to deliver more for players and tournaments in 2027,” Camillo said. “We have listened to player feedback on the demands of the calendar and responded with a meaningful reduction in commitments.”
Pegula said: “As players, we’re on the road most of the year, so having more flexibility in our schedules and commitments makes a real difference. The 2027 changes give us more ability to build our seasons around our own goals — competitively and personally. That’s an impactful step forward for players.”
A one-year trial
The WTA said the updates “will be implemented as a one-year pilot” for 2027. It said the pilot will let it “evaluate the impact of the changes across the tour to inform decisions for 2028 and beyond.” The equal-prize-money policy and calendar changes will start as a trial. The tour will reserve decisions on later years for a future evaluation.