WTA says all combined 1000 events will award equal prize money from 2027

The Women's Tennis Association said on 1 October that men and women will receive equal prize money at every combined WTA 1000 tournament from 2027. The change will bring the Italian Open, Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open into line with four events already meeting that commitment, according to BBC Sport. It will affect the tour's highest level of competition outside the Grand Slams, but the new payouts have yet to take effect.

Which WTA 1000 events are covered?

Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing already meet the equal-prize-money commitment, BBC Sport reported. The Italian, Canadian and Cincinnati Opens are the three combined events that will now join them. The announcement applies to tournaments where the men's and women's events are held together; it does not establish equal prize money across every event on the separate men's and women's tours.

All four Grand Slam tournaments also award equal prize money, according to BBC Sport. The WTA 1000 category sits immediately below those tournaments in the hierarchy described by the broadcaster. That makes the three additions a significant part of the tour's stated aim, while leaving other event categories outside the scope of this particular announcement.

The 2027 commitment is a promise about future tournament payments. BBC Sport's account does not give prize-fund totals for that season or explain how each of the three newly covered events will implement the change. Those figures will matter when the commitment can be assessed against the amounts actually paid to players.

How the 2027 target developed

The WTA linked its 2023 plan to an ambition dating from its founding by Billie Jean King 50 years earlier. Its statement presented equal compensation as a central goal for women's tennis and described changes to the tour calendar alongside the prize-money timetable. The latest decision follows that previously announced schedule for combined WTA 1000 events, although equal payments at the three remaining tournaments are still prospective.

Why Rome's earlier pledge matters

Rome shows why the 2027 date should be treated as a commitment rather than an accomplished result. Tennis365 reported that Italian Tennis Federation president Angelo Binaghi had described a process to bring the men's and women's prize money together. It also recounted a 2023 WTA statement to the Associated Press welcoming a Rome commitment to achieve equal prize money by 2025. The event did not meet that earlier target.

For the 2025 Italian Open, Tennis365 reported that the men's singles winner was due €985,030 and the women's singles winner €877,390. It reported a gap at every round of the tournament. Those are champion payments, not the total prize funds. BBC Sport separately put the men's total prize money at £7.3 million and the women's at £6.3 million for the same event.

The difference in Rome does not establish what its 2027 payouts will be. It does show that a previously stated deadline passed without equal prize money there. The newly announced timetable gives the tournament another date against which its men's and women's payments can be compared.

What changes for players beyond prize money?

The WTA also announced adjustments intended to give players more control over their schedules, BBC Sport reported. For players ranked in the world's top 50, the number of WTA 500 tournaments they must play will fall from six to four. That reduces a stated participation requirement alongside the prize-money change; the report does not provide a full account of every player's eventual calendar.

A separate ranking adjustment will let a player replace one eligible WTA 1000 result with a stronger result from a WTA 500 or WTA 250 event, according to BBC Sport. The change concerns how one result can count toward a ranking; it does not mean that WTA 500 or 250 events have become part of the new equal-prize-money commitment for combined WTA 1000 tournaments.

WTA chair Valerie Camillo called equal prize money across combined WTA 1000 events a ‘major milestone’ and said the organisation had responded to player feedback on the demands of the calendar, BBC Sport reported. World number three Jessica Pegula said the 2027 changes would give players more ability to shape their seasons around competitive and personal goals. Whether the promised equal payouts are delivered will be clear only when the relevant tournaments publish and pay their 2027 prize money.