Jessica Pegula recently advocated for a fairer future in tennis as she supports equal prize money for male and female athletes.
The world of tennis is experiencing a transformative period as it takes significant strides toward achieving gender equality. Recently, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced Gainbridge Insurance Agency as the new official title partner of the Billie Jean King Cup.
This partnership aims to bolster the ITF's Advantage All program, dedicated to making tennis an equal advantage sport for everyone. With Gainbridge's support, the ITF is working towards providing equal prize money for men and women in their respective team competitions.
This monumental step was realized in the 2022 and 2023 Billie Jean King Cup events, where players received equivalent prize money. This development has been met with enthusiasm and gratitude from athletes, including top-ranked American Jessica Pegula, who helped her team to secure the Finals spot in 2023.
Pegula expressed the importance of equal prize money, not just for the current generation of players, but for future generations as well.
"It's so important, I mean, it's something that we've been striving for and I think has been getting better, but it's huge, it's the main thing I feel like for the future generation as well."
Pegula is proud to be part of this ongoing progress, but acknowledges that there is still work to be done in the fight for gender equality in sports and beyond.
"Being able to be a part of us almost getting there is really special, but I know there's still a lot more work to be done. It's a lot."
She believes that achieving pay equity will inspire a new generation of women to pursue tennis, knowing they will be treated fairly and compensated justly.
"Not just in sport, but just for all women everywhere having the equal playing field, equal prize money I think would kind of inspire a whole other generation of women to play knowing that they are being treated the same and getting paid more."
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