ATP and WTA pay gap highlighted by prize money earned by Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek at recent events

Carlos Alcaraz with Barcelona Open trophy

The ATP and WTA both staged big 500 tournaments last week yet there was a major difference in the prize money that Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek received.

Spain hosted the ATP 500 Barcelona Open while Stuttgart in Germany staged the WTA 500 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix with both events best-of-three sets and Alcaraz and Swiatek were the last players standing.

World No 2 Alcaraz earned €477,000 for his week’s efforts while Swiatek earned a €104,000 with the winner in Stuttgart also receiving a Porsche as part of the prize.

The disparity in prize money was questioned by BBC commentator David Law as he wrote on Twitter: “Barcelona and Stuttgart are two fantastic 500 tournaments. Both put on a great show for big crowds, with packed fields of top players.

“Tough to see the respective winners’ cheques. Alcaraz – €477,000 Swiatek – €104,000. The sooner we really do see #TennisUnited, the better.”

Many Twitter users were not impressed with Law’s tweet, but he hit back saying: “The biggest, best, most lucrative (for men as well) tournaments are the Grand Slams, followed by combined 1000 events – men & women working together to raise the tide for all, and achieving equality.

“You’d think that would be a sensible, obvious goal. Then you read the replies.”

Someone also pointed out that Swiatek received a Porsche for winning in Stuttgart, but the retort was that the car was not worth €373,000.

The four Grand Slams all pay equal prize money while ATP and WTA 1000 events like the Indian Wells Open, Miami Open and Madrid Open also pay men and women the same.

Law then used another example of the discrepancy in earnings as this year’s WTA 500 Doha Open winner received $120,150 (although Law stated the prize money was $68,500) while the ATP 250 winner in Doha walked away with $209,445.

Respected coach Daniel Vallverdu, who is currently mentoring Grigor Dimitrov, replied: “The tours definitely are better off together.

“But not fair to bring negative light about the PM distributed by some events when im sure they are working extremely hard to deliver world class events and compensate players as fairly as possible.”

But Law was not ready to give up the fight.

“Let’s say you had a daughter who won Doha, and a son who got to the semis. And your son received more money for his semi. Would you be ok with saying to your daughter ‘I’m sure the tournament is working hard to compensate you as fairly as possible’?” he argued.

The Madrid Open is next up on both calendars and the men’s and women’s winners will each receive a €1,105,265 cheque, but there will once again be a pay gap at the Italian Open, which is also a joint ATP-WTA event.

The ATP winner will receive €1,105,265 while the WTA champion will get €521,754. However, organisers of the Rome event have announced that they will start awarding equal prize money from 2025.

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