The prize money for the WTA singles champion at the Cincinnati Open will be less than half the amount the ATP singles champion will receive. The Men’s singles winner at the Cincinnati Open is set to pocket a cool $1,019,335. This is more than double the sum for the women’s singles winner, who will earn less than even the runner-up of the ATP singles.
The ATP singles category at the Cincinnati Open boasts a cumulative prize pool of $6,600,00, out of which the winner alone receives just over a million dollars. The runner-up will bag $556,360, with the semi-finalists landing a little over 300 grand each. The quarter-finalists will earn a handsome sum of $166,020 as well. The rewards marked a 5% increase in the prize pool from 2021 for the ATP singles category at the Cincinnati Open. The prize amount for winners in the WTA Singles category is significantly lower than what the men will earn.
Cincinnati Open to continue prize money trend
The prize money at most top-level joint events on the WTA and ATP Tours has had a wide gap between the Men’s and Women’s categories. This trend is longstanding; resultantly, the pay gaps have only been widening on the Tour. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the growth of this pay gap between the ATP and WTA categories. The Grand Slam events, however, have had equal pay for men and women across events, and it all started with the US Open in 1973, followed by Australian Open in 2001, French Open and Wimbledon in 2007.
The trend continues at the Cincinnati Open, where the WTA prize pool is only $2,788,468 as compared to the kitty of $6,600,000 on offer in the ATP category. The women’s singles champion in Cincinnati will earn $454,500, less than half of the $1,019,335 the men’s singles champion will receive. Even the ATP singles runner-up, set to earn over 550 grand, will be going home richer than the winner of the women’s singles.
The WTA runner-up gets a comparatively measly $267,690, significantly less than the $304,375 the men’s semi-finalists take home. Semi-finalists and quarter-finalists in the women’s singles category will collect $138,000 and $63,350, respectively. This gap stands despite the WTA prize purse being significantly bumped up from last year, and the WTA will look to ditch this pattern.
WTA plans on changing the trend
The WTA recently revealed plans to gradually increase the prize money at their top-level events on the Tour and have them on par with the ATP soon. The association announced that it plans to revamp its calendar to put the WTA 1000 events on a ‘pathway to equal prize money’.
Joint ATP- WTA events will introduce equal prize money across both categories as soon as 2027. Independently held WTA 1000 and WTA 500 events will offer the same prize money as their corresponding ATP events by 2033. The announcement further declared that one WTA 1000 and four WTA 500 tournaments would be added to the revised calendar, increasing opportunities for women players to accumulate more prize money.
