WTA says Rome, Canadian Open and Cincinnati will reach equal prize money in 2027

The Women’s Tennis Association said on 1 October that the Italian Open in Rome, the National Bank Open in Montreal or Toronto, and the Cincinnati Open will offer women and men equal prize money from 2027. Their inclusion would bring every combined WTA 1000 tournament to parity, closing the remaining gap in that category under the tour’s announced plan.

The commitment is part of the WTA’s 2027 calendar announcement. It identifies the three events reaching parity but gives no event-by-event prize-money totals for next season. The announcement establishes what the tour says will happen in 2027; the amounts paid at each tournament will become clear when their prize schedules are published.

Which WTA 1000 events are reaching parity?

The WTA names the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, the National Bank Open, played in Montreal or Toronto, and the Cincinnati Open as the three combined WTA 1000 tournaments reaching equal prize money in 2027. Its announcement puts a specific season and three specific events against a goal the tour set out in 2023.

Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing are the other combined WTA 1000 events the WTA lists as already committing to equal prize money. The tour also names the United Cup and all four Grand Slam tournaments among events offering women and men equal prize money. The new commitment concerns the remaining combined WTA 1000 tournaments, rather than a claim that every event on the women’s tour will pay the same as a men’s event.

Why Rome’s prize money matters

Rome shows the size of a gap that remained in 2026. The Guardian reported that the Italian Open offered a total men’s prize-money pool of $9.6 million this year, compared with $8.3 million for the women. Those figures describe this year’s pools, not the amounts either competition will offer in 2027.

The Guardian also reported that Italian Open organisers pledged in 2023 to introduce equal prize money in 2025 but did not meet that timetable. Rome’s inclusion in the WTA’s 2027 announcement therefore gives a new target for an event whose earlier target passed. The WTA has not published a 2027 Rome prize schedule in this announcement.

The issue has a longer history at the same tournament. According to the Guardian, Billie Jean King has said her experience at the 1970 Italian Open helped move her to form a women’s professional circuit: she earned $600 for winning the women’s title while men’s champion Ilie Nastase received $3,500. The WTA was founded in 1973, with equal opportunity and recognition among its stated aims.

What the WTA has confirmed for 2027

WTA Chair Valerie Camillo called equal prize money across combined WTA 1000 tournaments a ‘major milestone for tennis’. The tour says it is creating a Tournament Investment Fund to direct financial support to selected markets and advance the equal-prize-money initiative. Its announcement does not identify the recipient tournaments, give allocation amounts or explain how each of the three newly named events will finance its prize pool.

The parity announcement came alongside a 2027 calendar of 55 events across 26 countries and territories. The WTA also announced scheduling changes developed through its Tour Architecture Council, which brings players and tournaments into decisions about the tour. Those calendar measures affect player commitments; they are separate from the promise about prize money at combined WTA 1000 events.

For top-50 singles players, the required number of WTA 500 tournaments will fall from six to four in 2027, according to the WTA. That leaves a base commitment of 14 WTA tournaments plus the four Grand Slams. Jessica Pegula, who chairs the council, said more flexibility matters to players who spend much of the year travelling and lets them shape seasons around competitive and personal goals.

The WTA says those scheduling changes will run as a one-year pilot in 2027, after which it will assess their effect before deciding what to do from 2028. It does not describe equal prize money as a pilot. The distinction matters: the announced parity goal is for the 2027 tournaments, while the pilot applies to the changes in player scheduling.

What remains to be verified

NewsJaws’ earlier report, ‘WTA says all combined 1000 events will award equal prize money from 2027’, covered the tour-wide announcement. The further detail here is which three tournaments the WTA says will complete that change, how Rome’s previous timetable compares with the new target, and which financial details the tour has yet to publish.