Andy Murray wants equal prize money in tennis – but a big change is needed

Kevin Palmer
Iga Swiatek gestures at French Open
Iga Swiatek at French Open

Andy Murray has joined the chorus of calls for equal prize money to be paid to men and women in tennis, but that is unlikely to happen any time soon.

Men and women are paid the same amount of prize money at the four Grand Slams each year, but that is not the case in regular ATP and WTA Tour events.

Even when men and women are playing in the same event, there is often a huge discrepancy in the money on offer for the winners of the two events.

The WTA has set out a pathway for female players will be awarded the same money as men at WTA-ATP 1000 and 500 tournaments by 2027.

At events where men and women aren’t at the same location, the prize money will be equal by 2033.

That is a noble ambition, yet the reality is this story has nothing to do with equality and everything to do with revenue streams.

As is the case with the ludicrous debate over equal prize money in soccer, where men’s broadcast and sponsorship deals are several hundred times more than the female version of the game, equal wages are simply not a realistic prospect.

The English Premier League returns this weekend, with packed-out crowds at Manchester United’s Old Trafford, Liverpool’s Anfield home and every stadium set to be a familiar site over the coming months.

By contrast, in the Women’s Super League in England, crowds at many matches are still in the hundreds rather than the high thousands and the broadcast deal to screen games is a reported £10 million.

For context, the TV deal for the men’s Premier League in England is around £10 billion, when international rights are taken into account – and that is likely to increase when it is renewed imminently.

The gap in income between men’s and women’s tennis is substantially lower thanks to the joint income from the four Grand Slam events, yet TV broadcast rights and sponsorship deals are still much lower for the WTA Tour that the ATP Tour.

So while Andy Murray will get a lot of sympathy for his calls to bring parity to the men’s and women’s game, he appreciates that cannot happen so long as the two organisations operate separately.

“I always felt like when we’re competing at the same event on the same courts, you know, that we should be playing for, you know, for the same prize money,” said the former world No 1 Murray in Washington last week.

“I’m totally behind equal prize money, and I think that it is brilliant that a lot of the tournaments on the tour that we have that, and I think that’s really, really positive.”

Murray went on to concede the prospect of equal prize money will be unrealistic unless there is a radical change at the top of tennis.

“I think it is difficult for it ever to become truly equal until the ATP and the WTA sort of actually combine and work together,” he added.

“I don’t know what the threshold for tournaments is, like to become a 500 on the ATP Tour, if the ATP will have their set of rules as to what levels they need to reach from a prize money perspective, and I’m sure the WTA have their own.

“I think for it ever to become truly equal, the WTA and the ATP are actually going to have to come together and work as one… both tours have different sponsors, different TV deals, and all of that stuff too.”

Tennis legend Roger Federer is among those to have also advocated an amalgamation of tennis that does not include separate organisational structures for the men’s and women’s game.

Yet the reality is that would require two well-staffed governing bodies to surrender a degree of power to each other for the good of the game.

At the moment, the men’s game is a more attractive proposition for broadcasters and sponsors and so long as that is the case, the dream of equal prize money may be forlorn.

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