The owner of the DC Open has confirmed that the tournament will give out equal prize money to male and female players from 2027 onwards.

The DC Open is the first combined 500 event on the tour, but has a disparity in pay between men and women. The men's event has a financial commitment of $2,178,980 whilst the women's event is almost three times less at $780,737.

Consequently, the men's champion at the tournament this year will receive $353,445 whilst the women's winner will get $120,150. The ATP and WTA Tours have separate governing bodies, meaning that they are not obliged to pay their players equal amounts at the same events.

However, the owner of the DC Open Mark Ein announced on Sunday, July 30 that the men's and women's events at the tournament will receive equal prize money from 2027.

"The stand-alone events have to have equal prize money to the same category in 2033. The combined events, of which we are the only one, have to do it by 2027. And that’s fine. It gives us a bunch of years to make the economics work and get it there."

Ein also praised the WTA, saying

"Credit to the WTA, they push and say, If you’re going to put men and women on the same court it needs to get equal faster."

This latest development comes after the WTA revaled that they have set out a pathway to achieve equal prize money at every WTA 500 and 1000 combined event by 2027, and at every single-week WTA 1000 and 500 event by 2033.

For now, though, the debate around equal prize money in tennis continues, with figures like Andy Murray suggesting that the problem will not be solved until there is some sort of alignment between the men and women's governing bodies.