The Internazionali BNL d’Italia, the biggest tennis tournament in Italy, is on a steady route to provide women with equal prize money to their male colleagues by year 2025, Italian tennis federation president Angelo Binaghi said at the presentation for this season’s Rome event.
“For the first time in history we have started the process that over three years will lead to equal prize money between the women’s and the men’s tournaments,” said Binaghi on Tuesday. As he explained, the reason for this improvement are additional resources provided by Elena Goitini, the chief executive of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, the Italian Open’s main sponsor: “We can make this big leap because the first female CEO of a big bank in Italy has provided us with the necessary resources.”
Last year’s champion on the women’s side, Iga Swiatek, received less than half prize money than Novak Djokovic, the 2022 Rome champion on the ATP Tour. Swiatek’s check amounted to €332,260 ($364,000), while Djokovic received €836,355 ($916,000).
The Italian Open was one of tournaments that inspired Billie Jean King to fight for equal pay. When she won the title in 1970, her prize was $600. Ilia Nastase, her male counterpart, received almost six times more, $3500. “Everyone thinks women…
