The finest of world tennis meet this week in Rome, where men and women will play on the same courts, in matches of the same three-for-five format, in the same tournament that sells the same ticket at the same price for the men’s matches and feminine.

The main difference? The men will compete for $8.5 million, while the women, 3.9 million.

They will play at half price, after having played in three tournaments of similar importance in California, Florida and Madrid, where men and women shared equal purses. Players are also paid equally at the four Grand Slam tournaments, where men play three-of-five matches and women, two-of-three format.

But not in Rome during the Italian Open. Nor in Cincinnati, at the Western & Southern Open. Nor in Montreal and Toronto, at the National Bank Open.

Angelo Binaghi, boss of the Italian tennis federation, recently promised that Rome will achieve pay equity by 2025 “to align with other major events on the circuit”. However, an expanded format will bring in more money this year. In the meantime, women will have to do the same work for lesser scholarships, which they have a little wrong with.

“Why isn’t it equal now?” asks Paula Badosa, a 25-year-old Spaniard and one of the leaders of the Association of Professional Tennis Players, a new group. “They don’t inform us. They say: here are your purses and you have to play. »

“It’s really frustrating,” said Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, a two-time Grand Slam finalist in 2022 and the fourth seed this week in Rome. “It has to change. It’s time for the tournament to do better,” she said on Tuesday.

According to Steve Simon, CEO of the WTA, which manages the women’s circuit on behalf of tournaments and players, the purse gap reflects a market that places more financial value on men’s sports than women’s sports, especially in terms of sponsorships and broadcasting rights. The circuit is working on a model that would achieve pay equity in major tournaments within a few years, he adds.

“We are still far from the goal, but it is progressing,” said Mr. Simon on Monday.

Canada under the magnifying glass

Why are female players still so badly off? There’s talk of entrenched sexism, bad deals with tournament owners, and the predatory nature of the sports industry, where owners, officials, and organizers often blame athletes (rather than their incompetence) for lower revenues. . A practical excuse not to invest in sport and not to increase scholarships.

In tennis, women are often at the bottom of the bill in mixed tournaments (less attractive schedules, smaller courts, sometimes even more modest hotels). In Madrid last week, the women’s doubles finalists did not have a chance to speak at the awards ceremony. Men, yes.

The WTA has sometimes shot itself in the foot. In the most important mixed tournaments, attendance is compulsory for women and men. The WTA only requires participation in tournaments in Indian Wells, Miami Gardens, Madrid and Beijing, but not those in Rome, Canada or Ohio, although these events are listed just below the Grand Slam tournaments in terms of importance. Also, the WTA awards slightly fewer ranking points than the Men’s Tour in Rome, Canada and Ohio, where the champion receives 900 points and the champion 1000.

These minor differences have given tournaments an excuse to underpay female players, even though almost all of the best compete in major optional tournaments, barring injury. Organizers say without mandatory attendance, local sponsors and broadcasters won’t pay as much.

Marc-Antoine Farly of Tennis Canada cited the difference when asked why the National Bank Open offered 5.9 million for men in 2022 and only 2.53 million for women.

Despite this gap, gender equity “is very important to our organization,” Farly said.

Tennis Canada recently set itself the goal of pay equity at all levels within five years and equal purses at the National Bank Open by 2027. forefront, together with the WTA, as part of a development plan to bridge the gap between the WTA and ATP scholarships. »

Like almost everything in the professional tennis industry, the scholarship formula is complex. Tournament owners allocate a share of box office revenue, national broadcast rights and sponsorships to exchanges. The WTA and ATP contribute from their own broadcasting rights and sponsorships, and also from the sums paid by each tournament to acquire its license.

According to Steve Simon, the WTA earns much less than the men’s circuit, the ATP, so it has less money to spend on scholarships.

The following

That said, if prize equality is important to tournament owners, they can choose to fund and pay for it. That’s what the Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open, owned by tech billionaire Larry Ellison, has been doing for more than a decade as part of its contract with the WTA.

In addition to the Italian and Canadian federations, the United States Tennis Association (USTA), which prides itself on being the spearhead of pay equity, has not granted the same amount to men and women players at the Omnium Western & Southern, one of the preparatory tournaments for the United States Open: in 2022, in Mason, Ohio, the men shared 6.28 million, the women, 2.53 million. In 1973, the U.S. Open became the first Grand Slam tournament to offer equal prize money and will celebrate the 50^e equity anniversary to great fanfare this summer. The USTA operated the Cincinnati tournament for over a decade.

According to Chris Widmaier, spokesman for the USTA, the prizes are “dictated by the proportional level of competition determined by each circuit”. In other words, since the Western & Southern was not a mandatory WTA event and the women competed for 10% less ranking points, it was justified to pay them 40 cents for every dollar received by the men.

Last summer, the USTA announced the sale of the tournament to Ben Navarro, a South Carolina financier and tennis enthusiast. He did not wish to be interviewed for this article.

Help may be on the way.

Earlier this year, venture capital firm CVC Capital Partners bought 20% of a WTA subsidiary for $150 million. This investment will be used to strengthen sales and marketing efforts and will be combined with a strategic plan being finalized that would eliminate the differences between men’s and women’s competitions in mixed events. All of this should help the WTA grow its revenue and purse contributions…and hopefully inspire tournament organizers to commit to pay equity in years to come.

This plan requires patience from the players, who are starting to run out.

“I don’t see why we should wait,” Ons Jabeur said.

This article was published in the New York Times.