Executive Summary
Tennis leads professional sports in gender pay parity, with all four Grand Slams offering equal prize money since 2007. Wimbledon 2025 allocates £3 million to both champions from a record £53.5 million purse. Nine of the top 15 highest-paid female athletes globally play tennis.
Yet tennis remains an outlier. Beyond Grand Slams, significant pay gaps persist. Women athletes earn far less than men on average across sports and receive a minority of sponsorship dollars despite stronger social engagement.
Tennis shows both the commercial upside of institutional parity and the structural limits that persist even in a leading sport.
Grand Slam Equality Sets a Global Benchmark
All four Grand Slams—US Open, Wimbledon, Roland-Garros, and Australian Open—now offer equal prize money, culminating a movement sparked by Billie Jean King’s 1972 ultimatum. The US Open led in 1973, with the others following by 2007. In 2024, combined Slam prize pools exceeded $254 million, split evenly between men and women.
Wimbledon 2025 offers £3 million to each singles champion (record £53.5 million purse). Tennis is the only major global sport with systemic pay equity at its premier events.
Tour-Level Disparities Persist
Outside the Slams, parity diminishes. Select 1000- and 500-level events still pay men meaningfully more than women despite like-for-like formats. At lower levels, gaps widen further.
An earnings gap at the player level also remains: recent seasons show top men out-earning top women by a large margin, with the differential little changed versus a decade ago. The WTA roadmap targets full parity by 2033 (with combined 500/1000 events by 2027), but unevenness will continue until then.
Even When TV Audiences Favor Women, Media Focus Skews Male
US Open women’s finals have outperformed men’s finals multiple times over the last decade. Even so, aggregated news coverage across the Slams has often favored men’s events, shaping sponsorship visibility and commercial outcomes.
Endorsement flows remain skewed: most partnership dollars still go to men, despite women’s athletes driving higher social engagement on average—pointing to structural undervaluation in the marketplace.
Tennis: A Commercial Outlier in a Male-Skewed Sports Economy
Women’s sports revenue remains a small share of the ~$500B global pro sports market. Digital and social platforms are improving visibility, but legacy broadcast patterns have been slow to change. Tennis outperforms peers on athlete earnings among women and on parity at flagship events, yet still reflects broader systemic limits.
Market Implications
Tennis offers a replicable roadmap: institutional parity plus promotional investment yields commercial returns. The WTA timeline provides sponsors and investors a horizon to plan against; early movers can align with parity milestones and fan demand.
Bottom Line
Tennis demonstrates the upside of parity and the persistence of structural limits. The global opportunity is real—but scaling parity beyond the Slams requires institutional commitment, smarter media packaging, and sponsor reallocation aligned to actual audience performance.