Internazionali BNL d'Italia to introduce equal prize money by 2025, comes after Swiatek earned two and a half time less for 2022 glory

The Rome Masters will introduce equal prize money for men and women by 2025 after Swiatek's triumph last year earned her 2.5 times less than Djokovic.

Quite a big story emerged from last year's Rome Masters and it wasn't the brilliant play of Djokovic or Swiatek. Those players were the champions last year but Djokovic's win earned him 2.5 times more prize money than Swiatek's which once again was a bad look for tennis as a sport. The gender pay gap has been a talking point in tennis for a while and those optics just prove it right.

In response to that, we'll see the prize money be equal for both men and women by 2025 though not this year. The president of the Italian Tennis Federation confirmed it in a press conference:

“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. We’re talking about 8 million euros (nearly $9 million) for each event. We can make this big leap because the first female CEO of a big bank in Italy has provided us with the necessary resources."

It comes more than 50 years after an incident at the event caused Billie Jean King to form what today is the WTA. She got six times less for her triumph at the event compared to the men's champion which made her realize that something need to be done.