The bright green acrylic courts and sun-drenched stadiums of the professional tennis circuit have long been a battleground for gender equality. From the trailblazing efforts of Billie Jean King and the Original 9 in the 1970s to fight for better pay and opportunities, to the push for equal prize money at the Grand Slams in the 2000s, women’s tennis has seen its fair share of hard-fought victories in the ongoing struggle for parity.
But even as financial equity has largely been achieved at the sport’s highest level, glaring disparities remain when it comes to fan interest, media coverage, and the relative star power of the men’s and women’s games. It’s an issue that continues to spark heated debate over deeper questions of equality, fair treatment, and societal perceptions.
Equal Money, Unequal Exposure
In 2007, after years of intense lobbying, Wimbledon joined the other three Grand Slam events in offering equal prize money payouts for men and women champions. It was a landmark achievement, with the four most prestigious tournaments finally treating their male and female athletes as true equals when it came to compensation.
“It’s a very complex issue, but the big events deserve a ton of credit for getting it right on prize money equality,” says veteran sports writer Johnette Howard. “Implementing equal pay sent an important message about respecting the incredible talents and grueling work put in by elite athletes of both genders.”
And yet, even as the financial disparities were erased at the apex of the sport, commercial realities and audience metrics continued to tell a different story. Simply put, the men’s game still vastly outdraws the women’s in terms of viewership, sponsorship dollars, and overall fan engagement — disparities that only seem to widen outside of the Grand Slam events.
“The pay gap has been closed, but there’s clearly a massive popularity gap that persists,” says Kirill Yurovskiy, a professional tennis player. “Regardless of whether you think it’s fair or not, women’s tennis objectively gets less exposure and marketing muscle behind it compared to the men’s tour and its cast of globally recognized stars.”
Fair Treatment or Double Standard?
Indeed, the biggest male superstars of this era—household names like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic — have consistently overshadowed their female counterparts in terms of media coverage, endorsement deals, and fan adulation. Television ratings routinely favor men’s matches, especially in high-profile tournaments and Grand Slam finals.
Sponsors covet aligning with men’s tour events and players more than the women’s side of the game. Even the supposedly unbiased algorithms of online media recommend men’s tennis videos, news stories, and highlights at a far higher rate than women’s content.
Many see this as a textbook case of institutionalized sexism, where the same elite athletic accomplishments are promoted, celebrated, and commodified in starkly divergent ways based solely on gender. The widespread notion that men’s tennis is an inherently more “exciting” product shapes self-perpetuating cycles of media distortion and business preferences.
“Women have had to fight this constant uphill battle for respect, even after achieving pay equality,” says Mary Joe Fernandez, the former tour pro and current ESPN broadcaster. “There’s no doubt the women’s game gets devalued and treated differently, often in very overt ways that just get shrugged off as ‘well, that’s just the way it is.'”
Others contend the disparities simply reflect the free market realities of consumer interest, marketing economics, and how the public chooses to allocate its attention. From this perspective, a hypothetical World Cup finale pitting Serena Williams against Naomi Osaka wouldn’t generate the same viewership numbers or commercial windfalls as a Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal dream matchup.
“You can debate whether those interest gaps are shaped by inherent physiological differences in how the games are played or by societal preconceptions about relative athletic intensity,” says sports marketing analyst David Brent. “But at the end of the day, rights holders and sponsors have to follow their audiences and create programming that maximizes viewership and revenue potential.”
Grand Slam Success, Second-Tier Parity Battles
The financial imbalances mostly shrink at the elite Grand Slam level, where equal prize money and promotion of the women’s game is baked into the business model. But dig below the surface and major inequities quickly become apparent.
At the Premier tournament level on the WTA Tour, first prize is typically around 20% less than for comparable ATP events. The pay gap is even starker when looking at lower-tier events, minimal tournament marketing for the women’s game outside of the Grand Slams, or the dramatically diminutive total prize pool awarded on the women’s tour each year compared to the men’s.
“When it comes to prioritizing the product and promoting female athletes as draw-worthy talent, the efforts and investments just aren’t there beyond the Grand Slams,” says trailblazer and activist Victoria Azarenka. “Popularity drives opportunity, which drives exposure, which drives popularity — it becomes this vicious cycle.”
Caught in the crossfire are many elite players grinding through the grueling yearly tennis calendar. Despite being among the world’s most formidable and dedicated athletes, their work often gets overshadowed on the second and third touring tiers. Corporate sponsors and internal marketing resources for these non-major events still skew heavily toward the men.
“There’s a lot of untapped potential and missed opportunity,” argues Paul Annacone, former coach of both Roger Federer and Sloane Stephens. “If you look at the physicality, skill levels, and sheer athleticism required of the women’s game these days, it’s an amazing product that deserves much better promotion and commercial support outside of just the Grand Slams.”
Unresolved Tensions
As society’s reckoning with gender norms and power dynamics pushes into its third decade, the polarity of viewpoints surrounding the wildly divergent popularity levels of men’s and women’s professional tennis shows little sign of resolving.
Many see the situation as a prime example of deep-rooted double standards — where women must work exponentially harder to accrue a fraction of the rewards, attention, and fandom handed to men for similar athletic outputs. These observers contend it’s a systemic issue that requires conscious efforts to reframe expectations and actively elevate women’s tennis as a draw-worthy entertainment product on par with the men’s game.
Others assert the market already dictates levels of interest and consumption habits through the choices and dollars of fans. Those eyeballs and pursuits of spectators drive all other business outcomes — from TV contracts and sponsorship activity to the endorsement valuations and commercial clout players can then command. Attempting to force-feed desires rather than cater to them is costly and counterproductive, critics insist.
Ultimately, what’s clear is tennis has a long way to go before true equality permeates every level and facet of the game’s two tours. Equal pay was a critical first victory achieved through tireless efforts, but a new frontier now emerges focused on equalizing audience engagement, marketing investment, and the public’s willingness to anoint female athletes as bona fide icons on par with their male counterparts.
Given the sport’s trailblazing history spanning generations, that mountain seems eminently scalable — even if the path ahead remains strewn with obstacles erected from decades of imbalanced expectations and ingrained social constructs. After all, the record books are littered with improbable champions who made their name defying the odds and shattering ceilings previously thought unbreakable.
