By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday April 5, 2023
The Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, one of the biggest clay court events in tennis, is finally taking steps in the direction of equal prize money.
The tournament, the final Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 event prior to Roland-Garros every season, plans to get there by 2025.
In 2022, they weren’t even close. Women’s singles champion Ig Swiatek received a check for 332,260 euros while men’s singles champion Novak Djokovic took home 836,355 euros.
“For the first time in history we have started the process that over three years will lead to equal prize money between the women’s and the men’s tournaments,” Italian tennis federation president Angelo Binaghi said Tuesday at the presentation for this season’s event, which will be held May 10-21, according to the AP.
“We’re talking about 8 million euros for each event. We can make this big leap because the first female CEO of a big bank in Italy has provided us with the necessary resources.”
He was referring to Elena Goitini, the chief executive of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, the Italian Open’s main sponsor.
The event will take a bigger piece of the tennis calendar, moving forward. Rome will expand from eight to 12 days this year and will feature 96-player draws, compared to 56 in years past.
“We are excited for the commitment that has been made by the Rome event to ensure this is in place by 2025,” the WTA Tour told The Associated Press. “It is our hope to see this commitment achieved at more WTA events.”
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