World No. 1 Iga Swiatek candidly addressed the prize money disparity in tennis, advocating for equal rewards across the sport.
One of the main topics in the world of tennis over the past few days has been the fact that Carlos Alcaraz was awarded 477,795€ in prize money for his Barcelona Open triumph, while Iga Swiatek received 'only' 109,240€ for her win at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, which is of WTA 500 category, so same as the Spaniard's ATP 500 triumph.
The difference in prize money distributed across the two tennis tours has always been a topic in the world of this beautiful sport, and every time that it's brought up, opinions differ. Ahead of her campaign at the 2023 Madrid Open, also the women's world no. 1 was asked about her opinion, and she candidly answered.
"Well, it's kind of obvious what my opinion is, because tennis is one of the sports where we speak about, you know, equality. I think it's better than most of sports anyway. But still, there is a lot we can work on in terms of, you know, getting equal prize money on some WTA tournament compared to ATP on the same level."
Swiatek also points out that while Grand Slams have achieved equal prize money, lower-tier events are yet to catch up. She suggests that the WTA should focus on ensuring that equal rewards are given for both men and women's tournaments, acknowledging the complexities of the issue due to business and politics.
"Grand Slams are already even, as we know. That's nice, but for sure it would be good if WTA would focus on that, but I don't really want to get into that, because it's a lot of business and sometimes politics."
However, she maintains that her influence may be limited but asserts that equal pay would be beneficial for the sport.
"I don't think I have, you know, a lot of influence. I just can say that it would be nice for our sport if it was equal, especially because, you know, we kind of do the same work."
0 Comments