TENNIS
How much prize money do the winners get at the 2024 Italian Open?
While there is gender pay equality at the grand slam tournaments, the Italian Open is an event at which women earn less than their male counterparts.
The winner of this year’s Italian Open men’s singles tournament will net around $1 million in prize money, while the victor in the women’s event will earn significantly less in Rome - a little over $750,000.
Despite the clear pay disparity, however, 2024′s women’s singles champion is to get around a third more than last year. This increase, it appears, is evidence of the Women’s Tennis Association’s efforts to close the money gap between its tournaments and those played under the aegis of the Association of Tennis Professionals, the governing body of the men’s professional game.
Men’s singles prize money: how much?
According to figures provided by the ATP, the Italian Open’s 2024 men’s champion will receive a cheque for €963,225 (about $1.05 million). This actually represents a slight decrease from the 2023 men’s event at Foro Italico, where Russian Daniil Medvedev picked up just over €1.105 million (around $1.2 million) for beating Denmark’s Holger Rune in the final.
2024 men’s singles prize money: full breakdown
Winner: €963,225
Runner-up: €512,260
Semi-finalist: €284,590
Quarter-finalist: €161,995
Fourth round: €88,440
Third round: €51,665
Second round: €30,255
First round: €20,360
Women’s singles prize money: how much?
Per the WTA, the winner of the Italian Open women’s singles tournament will net €699,690 (about $760,000). That’s 34% more than was paid to last year’s champion, Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, who pocketed €521,754 (around $567,000) when her final opponent, the Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina, was forced to retire hurt at one set down.
Women’s singles prize money: full breakdown
Winner: €699,690
Runner-up: €365,015
Semi-finalist: €192,405
Quarter-finalist: €99,160
Fourth round: €52,480
Third round: €30,435
Second round: €16,965
First round: €10,495
Women’s tennis on “pathway” to equal prize money
While there is equal prize money at the four grand slam events on the tennis calendar - the Australian Open, the French Open, the US Open and Wimbledon - this is not the case in all regular-season elite competitions.
Outside of the majors, indeed, there are only three combined events (championships that feature both an ATP and a WTA-run tournament) that offer the same prize purse to men and women: the Indian Wells Open, the Madrid Open and the Miami Open.
However, the WTA revealed in June 2023 that it had set about “creating a pathway toward equal prize money” in all combined top-tier events by 2027. “Equality, including equal compensation, is a fundamental principle of the WTA and it is crucial to attain this level,” said Steve Simon, the body’s chairman and CEO.
The sports business publication Sportico notes that the women’s world No. 1, Iga Swiatek, was the top prize money earner in the female game in 2023 - yet she received less money than four men’s players (Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Medvedev).
Speaking last year, Swiatek called for pay equality throughout the tennis season. “For sure, I’d like to see the WTA expanding business-wise, getting more popular, cutting the difference between WTA and ATP in terms of prize money and attracting fans,” the Pole said, per Reuters.
“Our tennis brings the same emotions as men’s tennis […]. There’s something you can find in women’s tennis that you’re not going to find on the ATP. Right now, after a couple of years of hearing we’re not consistent [in women’s tennis], we’re actually consistent. There are top players who are playing great in most of the tournaments.”
Who is in the running to win the 2024 Italian Open titles?
Swiatek, who is a two-time champion at the Italian Open, remains in contention to regain the women’s singles title in Rome. The 22-year-old top seed takes on the US’s Coco Gauff in the semi-finals today. In the day’s second women’s semi, in-form American Danielle Collins meets the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.
In the men’s singles, Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo - who surprisingly eliminated world No. 1 Djokovic in the third round - faces Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals. US player Tommy Paul will feature in the men’s tournament’s other last-four clash, against either Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas or the Chilean Nicolás Jarry. Both semis are scheduled for Friday.