WTA to offer equal prize money at Italian Open from 2027

The WTA has announced that beginning 2027, the Italian Open in Rome will provide women players with equal total prize money compared to men, marking a significant milestone for gender parity in professional tennis. The move comes nearly six decades after Billie Jean King won the tournament's title at the Foro Italico, when she earned USD 600 while men's champion Ilie Nastase took home USD 3,500 that same year in 1970.

The Rome clay-court tournament's shift to equal prize money means that all combined WTA 1000 events will award equal prize money for the first time. The Italian Open had been one of three remaining holdout tournaments at this level, alongside the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open. Other combined 1000 events in Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, and Beijing, as well as all four Grand Slams, already offer equal prize money. WTA chair Valerie Camillo called the achievement "a major milestone for tennis" and described it as a testament to the WTA's founding vision of competitive and financial equality.

This commitment comes after Italian Open organizers previously pledged to implement equal prize money starting in 2025 but did not follow through on that promise. This year's tournament offered USD 9.6 million in total men's prize money while women received USD 8.3 million.