Breaking Down the Tennis Gender Pay Gap: Why It Still Matters
The first time I heard that men and women don’t always get paid equally in tennis, I thought, “Wait, seriously?” I had just returned home from a tournament, exhausted and proud after grinding through a tough three-set match, when the TV announcer casually mentioned that the men's champion was getting double the women's prize money. Same tournament, same effort, different paycheck. I was stunned.
I'm 12, ranked in the top 100 nationally for 12 and under girls, and tennis is an integral part of my life. My weekends involve chasing yellow fuzzy balls, calming pre-match nerves, and squeezing in homework between matches. I love the thrill of competing. However, I've noticed how women’s tennis sometimes gets treated as if it's less intense or important compared to men’s. That made me wonder: Does this attitude contribute to why female players earn less?
I started digging around and learned that tennis is considered more progressive when it comes to gender equality, thanks to legends like Billie Jean King and Serena Williams, who fought tirelessly for equal prize money.
In 1973, Billie Jean King led the fight for equal prize money at the US Open, even threatening to boycott the tournament if women weren’t paid fairly. She made history when the US Open became the first Grand Slam to offer equal prize money to men and women. Later, she founded the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the Women’s Sports Foundation, both of which pushed hard for equality across the board.
Serena Williams, one of the greatest athletes of all time, used her platform to speak out about the pay gap, media bias, and lack of recognition for women of color in sports. When Wimbledon and the French Open were still paying women less than men, Serena didn’t stay silent. She called it out. In 2007, partly due to the pressure from Serena and Venus Williams, Wimbledon finally agreed to equal prize money.
But if you look beyond the Grand Slams, the picture starts to look a little less equal. The rest of the tennis world still shows a clear gender pay gap. On the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tours, prize money is in favor of male players. Men are playing for bigger checks even though women are putting in the same grind, drawing in solid crowds, and bringing just as much excitement and skill to the court. My coach, Rebeka Stolmar, who played professionally on the WTA tour and at the University of Texas, explained to me the depth of this issue. “On the women’s tour, unless you're at the very top, you're usually paying your own hotel and travel costs,” she said. Imagine working just as hard but starting every tournament already behind financially. That’s not fair competition. This reality not only hinders access but also reinforces a system where women have to fight harder for the same rewards as men.
Some argue that the gap exists because men’s matches attract more TV viewers and bigger sponsorship deals. But why is that? It turns out that women’s matches often get worse time slots and less promotion, reducing their visibility. In fact, at the 2024 French Open, all 11 of the tournament’s evening primetime matches were reserved for men’s singles, not a single women's match got that spotlight. Even the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) spoke up, saying this kind of scheduling keeps women’s tennis out of sight, which hurts viewership and future opportunities.
A study from the 2023 US Open showed that women’s tennis got only 36.6% of media coverage, even though the women’s final between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka had more viewers than the men’s final. It’s clearly not about lack of interest but about how the system is built. If you don’t give girls equal chances to be seen and celebrated, you're setting them up to lose before the match even starts.
It’s not just prize money. If you look at sponsorships, you see the same pattern. Top stars like Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka have secured major deals with brands like Nike and Louis Vuitton, they are exceptions rather than the norm. In 2024, for the first time since Forbes, an American business magazine, began tracking, no women appeared on the list of the world's 50 highest-paid athletes. This absence highlights a significant disparity in earnings between male and female athletes, even at the highest levels of professional sports.
When asked what she thought were the biggest factors contributing to the pay gap, Stolmar mentioned viewer numbers, especially at smaller tournaments. “Even if the matches are equally exciting, fewer people watch women's matches at lower-level events like the International Tennis Federation (ITF)," she explained. Even though the matches at these events can be just as exciting and skillful, they often don’t attract the same viewership. This unequal exposure directly impacts players’ earnings, as sponsorship deals and media coverage depend on visibility.
So, what needs to be done? “Continuing to provide the same opportunities for men’s and women’s tennis as well, with the same number of tournaments and also the same treatment at those,” Stolmar suggested. Equal opportunities, on and off the court, are crucial to real equality.
This issue isn't just about prize money, it's about respect and equality. It’s about the kind of message we’re sending. Are we telling girls their hard work matters just as much as the boys’? Are we treating wins the same, no matter who’s holding the trophy?
While tennis has made real progress, especially when compared to other sports, equal prize money at the Grand Slams tournaments is only one piece of the puzzle. Real equality means rethinking the structure of the sport. That means fairer scheduling, better media coverage, and ensuring men and women receive equal promotion, investment, and airtime from sponsors and broadcasters. Because at the end of the day, it should always come down to talent, effort, and performance, not gender. As someone who dreams of competing at the highest level, I want to step onto the court knowing my hard work counts just as much as anyone else's, no matter who they are.
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
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