The National Bank Open will give fair scholarships to tennis players starting in 2027, according to what Tennis Canada announced on Tuesday.
The Canadian tournament, a WTA 1000 event on the Women’s Tour and a Masters 1000 event on the Men’s ATP Tour, takes place in Montreal and Toronto in early August.
“It’s a great day for professional tennis in Canada. Defining a clear path to equal purses for our tournament was a process that took several years and involved a lot of work, said Gavin Ziv, CEO of Tournaments at Tennis Canada. Fortunately, with the help of the WTA and National Bank, this goal will become a reality in 2027 and we are very excited. »
The tournament will also receive a status upgrade, seeing the main draw competition spanning 12 days, rather than seven, from 2025, barring Olympic years. These changes will be accompanied by an increase in the number of players in the main draws, from 56 to 96 for both women and men.
Additional financial resources will come from WTA Ventures, a new entity that will centralize the WTA’s commercial rights and assets (broadcasting, betting, data, sponsorships, etc.), resulting in a gradual inflow of funds for the National Bank Open.
Tennis Canada said it plans to use these funds, in addition to the ongoing support of the presenting sponsor, to “significantly reduce the purse gap between women and men participating in the tournament.”
The WTA Tour announces a purse of US$2.788 million for the Montreal tournament, which will take place August 7-13, 2023. The ATP event in Toronto will share a total purse of $7.623 million.
Tennis Canada projects that the purses awarded during the women’s tournament should increase from a proportion of approximately 32 percent of the purses offered to men in a two-week format to nearly 60 percent in 2025, 78 percent in 2026 and 100 percent in 2027.
“It’s a special day to be a Canadian tennis player,” said Rebecca Marino. I am so proud of the work that Tennis Canada and the National Bank have put in to pave the way towards equity in scholarships. The announcement of this parity for 2027 is a huge step forward for women in Canada. I hope this can lay the groundwork for more progress and an even brighter future for the girls entering our sport. »
The ATP Tour announced last year that several tournaments, including the National Bank Open, would see play in their main draw spread over 12 days to adopt a tournament-like structure. of the Grand Slam.
In addition to the Canadian tournament, the WTA Tour plans to offer a larger format for the Rome and Cincinnati events.
In Olympic years, the National Bank Open, like the Cincinnati tournament in mid-August, will revert to a seven- or eight-day competition due to a more condensed schedule. The city of Paris will host the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Tennis Canada and the two circuits have decided to implement their new structure from 2025 in order to benefit from three consecutive years under the new format before the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.