World No. 1 Iga Sviatek has said female tennis players are not being paid according to their merits and believes the WTA should make an effort to offer the same prize money as the ATP.

Iga Svyatek, dissatisfied with the prizes offered by the WTA

While in Dubai on the occasion of the “WTA 1000” competition, Svyatek said that one of the WTA’s priorities should be to make tournaments more attractive for players, partners, organizers and fans.

“Obviously, I would like the WTA to grow commercially, become more popular, close the gap with the ATP in terms of prizes and attract fans.

Our tennis gives the same emotions as men’s tennis. You can find something in women’s tennis that you can’t find in men’s tennis.

After several years of hearing that we were impermanent, now we are. They are the best players who perform very well in most tournaments” – Iga Svyatekquoted by Agerpres.

American Jessica Pegula, who ranks 3rd in the world and is a member of the WTA Players’ Council, also supports the Polish woman’s opinion.

“I hope we can continue to push for the prizes to be the same for all events and for our competitions to be televised more often” – Jessica Pegula.

Currently, only four Grand Slam tournaments offer equal prize money for men and women. According to a Financial Times report, the ATP offered 75% more prize money than the WTA in 2022, the biggest gap since 2001.