Women’s tennis stars have lamented the tour’s crowded schedule for years. Change may finally be coming.
The WTA Tour Architecture Council, a group formed earlier this year tasked with addressing scheduling issues, plans to cut required WTA 500 tournaments for top women’s tennis players starting next year, according to council member Bob Moran, who is also the president of Beemok Sports and Entertainment, the company that runs the Cincinnati and Charleston Opens. Moran told Front Office Sports he expects a vote on the matter sometime during the US Open, which begins at the end of this month.
“When we came out with circuit structure a couple of years ago, it was trying to get players to play more 1000s and 500s,” Moran said. Outside of the Grand Slams, the most prestigious tournaments every year are 1000-level events like Indian Wells and Miami Open) followed by 500 tournaments such as the DC Open).
“They have to play 1000s, but more of the 500s, and rules were put into place to do that. And one of the things was they have to play six 500s. We heard from the players that that has been difficult. I’m very confident that at the US Open, you’ll see that number come down.”
The top women have spoken ad nauseum about their gripes about the tennis calendar.
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka called her crowded competition schedule “insane” in January. A month later, several top players, including Sabalenka and Iga Świątek, dropped out of the Dubai Open, a 1000 event, which eventual winner Jessica Pegula said was “not surprising.”
Moran said he believes the number of required 500 tournaments will drop from six to “probably five or four.” A rule change would effectively bring down the number of required tournaments to around 15–17 for top players.
Based on the WTA’s current rules, many top players are required to play at least 17 tournaments: Four Grand Slams, seven 1000 tournaments, and six 500s. That number is 18 for eight top-ranked players that qualify for the WTA Finals in November. Some players play even more events given that a maximum of 18 tournaments are counted in WTA singles rankings.
The Tour Architecture Council, established in February, is a 13- person group chaired by Pegula established in February by new WTA chair Valerie Camillo. Other player representatives on the council are Maria Sakkari, Victoria Azarenka, and Katie Volynets. The council also includes several WTA and tournament execs.
Pegula and Sakkari told FOS in March that they appreciated Camillo’s initiative in addressing the long-standing issue.
“I don’t know if we’ve seen that much initiative out of somebody that really wants to prioritize a topic,” Pegula said ahead of the BNP Paribas Open.
Moran said there will be no changes to the required 1000 tournaments, but described a possible cut to the required 500 tournaments as a “big change” that comes after several “hearty discussions” with the rest of the council.
Though players have pushed to reduce the tournament requirement, doing so will likely come with a compromise.
“I think we will look at prize money as part of that,” Moran told FOS. “Will that slow down?”
In 2023, the WTA announced goals of creating equal prize money with the men’s tour at combined 1000 and 500 tournaments by 2027 and single-week WTA 1000 and 500 events by 2033. All four Grand Slams have offered equal prize money since 2007, but a gap remains between WTA and ATP events.
For example, at the Cincinnati Open, the men’s purse is about $9.4 million, about $2 million more than the women’s. The minimum WTA 500 event purse is $1.2 million, but the typical ATP 500 event is more than $2 million.
Moran said this change may “slow down” progress towards the WTA’s equal prize money goal for 500 tournaments.
“If we’re going to sit in a room and talk, something has to give,” Moran said. “If you want commitment to go down, then that prize money growth is going to have to slow a little. Because if the commitment is going to be less, and you’re going to play less 500s, it’s going to be hard to ask 500s that might not be getting the fields that we want them to get to keep going up.”
The WTA would not comment on a possible vote. A WTA source said there are no plans to change equal prize money goals.
Earlier this year, the Charleston Open became the first 500 tournament to achieve equal prize money for men and women when it announced a $2.3 million purse for women, nearly twice as much as the $1.2 million mandate. Moran told FOS in March the move was not just for show, saying it made business sense for Beemok.
“We did not want to be in the business of subsidizing prize money,” Moran said.
–
