How the Charleston Open shed light on tennis’ prize-money economics

Her $2. 3-million winner’s check marked the first time a standalone WTA 500 tournament, the level two rungs below a Grand Slam, awarded prize money equal to that of men’s event of the same level. At the previous three WTA 500 events in 2026, the winner took home roughly $1.

2 million, the minimum for a women’s tournament of that level. But sponsor Credit One Bank offered a prize package of nearly double that in Charleston — $2. 5 million in total, $200,000 of which will go to the tour’s player benefit program, which covers benefits including health insurance and pensions.

“Upping the prize money, setting the standard very high, I think us as players really appreciate that, and it’s amazing what you’ve been doing for our sport,” Pegula said Sunday, after defeating Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine 6-2, 6-2 to claim her second consecutive title in Charleston. The Charleston Open is the first WTA 500 to proactively offer equal prize money, years ahead of the WTA’s pledge to have equal prize money at 500-level events by 2033. But the commitment is not a subsidy, the tournament’s director, Bob Moran, said in an interview earlier this week inside a suite at Stadium Court.

Instead, Moran said, the tournament’s ability to provide equal pay without forsaking its bottom line has much to do with an asset women’s sports events and leagues have spent decades fighting for: television exposure. “We have doubled partnerships. We have doubled our hospitality, and we doubled our ticket sales in a very short period of time,” Moran said.