The Garden Tennis Affiliation has dedicated to paying equal prize cash to feminine gamers at Queen’s and Eastbourne by 2029.
Girls will play at Queen’s Membership subsequent week for the primary time in additional than 50 years on the inaugural HSBC Championships, that includes the likes of Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter and top-10 stars Madison Keys and Zheng Qinwen.
The LTA introduced on Thursday it could pay complete prize cash of $1.415m (roughly £1m), the best for a WTA 500 occasion of its draw measurement this 12 months.
However that’s nonetheless lower than half of the prize pot that will probably be paid out to the male gamers the next week for the equal match on the ATP Tour.
On the Lexus Eastbourne Open, a joint WTA and ATP occasion staged the week earlier than Wimbledon starting on June 23, the distinction is even starker, with the ladies’s prize fund of $389,000 (roughly £287,000) considerably inferior to the greater than £630,000 that will probably be paid to the boys.
Whereas prize cash is equal on the grand slams and a few joint tour occasions, typically remuneration on the WTA Tour is considerably decrease than the ATP.
The LTA acknowledged an purpose to realize parity earlier than 2029 however its rationale comes towards a £4m loss made throughout the grass-court occasions it staged final 12 months – Wimbledon is run by the All England Membership – with the boys’s occasion at Queen’s the one worthwhile match.
Scott Lloyd, the governing physique’s chief government, stated: “We are making significant increases this year to the women’s prize money at Queen’s and Eastbourne and want to achieve equal prize money as soon as possible.
“The LTA is dedicated to rising girls’s tennis, each at skilled and grass-roots degree, and this transfer is a crucial a part of that dedication.
“This year fans will be able to enjoy both men’s and women’s tennis on the biggest stages that we can offer and we want to develop the tournaments so that the women’s events deliver a path to profitability and greater visibility for the sport.”
Ticket gross sales for the ladies’s occasion at Queen’s are presently round 80 per cent, with the boys’s match offered out, whereas 55 per cent of these buying WTA tickets have been feminine.
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Osaka, Pegula withdraw from Queen’s
4-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and world No 3 Jessica Pegula have withdrawn from Queen’s.
2024 US Open runner-up Pegula was set to be the best ranked participant within the draw, however the American withdrew together with Japan’s Osaka on Thursday.
Osaka, whose final main title got here on the 2021 Australian Open, was knocked out within the first spherical of the French Open final week by Paula Badosa.
Pegula reached the fourth spherical in Paris however was upset by Lois Boisson on the French participant’s fairytale run to the final 4.
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