The National Bank Open will offer more and more money to female tennis players until pay parity is achieved with their male counterparts in 2027, Tennis Canada has announced. Although it seems slow, this change could lead to an improvement in the overall level of play in women’s tennis, experts believe.
Achieving this parity was “the most important step in the growth of women’s tennis,” said tournament director and former professional player Valérie Tétreault in an interview with La Presse.
“From my past as a professional player, I feel even more proud today to be able to participate in this announcement, at this great moment,” she adds.
The prize money allocated to female players for the 2023 edition of the National Bank Open represents less than a third (32%) of that granted to men. Purses for the men’s edition of the tournament amount to C$8.7 million, according to the official ATP website. According to our calculations, those of the women’s tournament therefore reach 2.8 million dollars.
The organization would have liked to make the endowments egalitarian this year, “but we were starting from so far”, explains Valérie Tétreault.
The television royalties linked to men’s tennis are 10 times higher than those of women’s tennis, underlines the director of the tournament. This explains the discrepancy between the $1,200,000 check given to Pablo Carreño Busta, last year’s men’s singles winner in Montreal, and the $580,000 check given to Simona Halep, the women’s singles winner in Toronto.
A new entity, WTA Ventures, supported by National Bank, the tournament’s main sponsor, will fill the gap.
In 2025, scholarships allocated to women will represent 60% of the total given to men. The proportion will increase to 78% in 2026, and finally to 100% in 2027. Within four years, the allocation reserved for female players will increase by 350% to reach at least $10 million.
A justified amount, according to Valérie Tétreault. “The level of play at the WTA [the women’s tennis circuit] is high enough to interest any tennis fan. »
Remarks corroborated by the general manager of Tennis Quebec, Andréanne Martin. “When Serena [Williams] went to play in Toronto, it was an attendance record,” she said.
In a statement, Leylah Annie Fernandez, Bianca Andreescu and Rebecca Marino, the three highest-ranked Canadian women on the WTA Tour in singles, expressed their joy over future pay parity.
According to Hélène Pelletier, tennis match analyst at RDS, smaller tournaments could follow the initiative of the National Bank Open. Larger prize pools could therefore increase the overall level of play in women’s tennis.
“We could develop all the aspects like we do in men, where there are more resources, on the money side,” she explains.
For example, with larger prize pools, players could retain the services of a psychologist.
Andréanne Martin is of the same opinion. “There are some [players] who walk around with their chef, their physio… You see that also in women, but less. »
The cause ? Lower incomes compared to their male counterparts. “If the players have a stronger and more complete team, the level of play should increase,” Ms. Martin thinks.
For now, the four Grand Slam tournaments and some Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 tournaments, such as those in Indian Wells and Miami, offer parity to players. All 1000 tournaments combined (ATP and WTA) will reach parity in 2027.
The National Bank Open falls into this category of tournaments. These are the most important tennis competitions after the Grand Slam tournaments, both for prize money and ranking points.
The National Bank Open will be spread over 12 days instead of 7 from 2025. A match round will be added to the tables, which will count 96 players, instead of the current 56. This change will put the tournament on a par with those of Indian Wells, Miami and Rome, considered the most prestigious of the Masters 1000, since they are contested over 12 days. The National Bank Open is contested every year at the beginning of August in Montreal and Toronto. This year, the women will play in Montreal and the men in Toronto from August 7-13.
