WTA Makes Italian Open Equal-Pay, Completing Parity Across All Combined 1000 Events

The last holdout falls

The WTA Tour announced that starting in 2027, the Italian Open in Rome will pay equal total prize money to men and women, making it the final combined WTA 1000 event to close the gap. The Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open were the tour's other past holdouts; Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Beijing and all four Grand Slams already pay men and women equally.

The gap at Rome has been significant and recent. In 2026, the men's total prize pool at the tournament was 9.6 million dollars compared to 8.3 million dollars for the women, despite organizers having pledged to reach equal pay as far back as 2025, a promise they did not follow through on at the time.

A gap with deep roots

The history behind the announcement runs back more than five decades. Billie Jean King has said that earning just 600 dollars for winning the Italian Open in 1970, while that year's men's champion Ilie Nastase collected 3,500 dollars for his title, helped push her to found the women's professional tour in the first place.

WTA chair Valerie Camillo framed the announcement as a culmination of that history: "Achieving equal prize money across all combined WTA 1000 tournaments is a major milestone for tennis, a testament to the enduring nature of the founding vision of the WTA."

Other changes coming in 2027

The prize money announcement arrived alongside other schedule changes. The WTA is expanding its 250-level event in Manila, driven partly by interest in Filipino star Alex Eala, currently ranked world No. 18. The tour is also cutting the number of mandatory WTA 500-level events for top-50 players from six to four, bringing their total required 2027 commitment down to 14 tournaments plus the four Grand Slams.

World No. 3 Jessica Pegula, who chairs the WTA's tour architecture council, welcomed the lighter schedule demands. The changes, including the Italian Open's equal pay, are being treated as a one-year pilot for the 2027 season, with the tour expected to evaluate the results before making the arrangement permanent.