This week on the professional tennis tour tells a frustrating but all-too-familiar story. In Abu Dhabi, the women’s tour is hosting a WTA 500 event, a relatively high-tier tournament in the WTA hierarchy. Meanwhile, the men’s tour has an ATP 250 event in Dallas, a lower-tier tournament. And yet, a player who reaches the quarterfinals in Dallas will walk away with USD $75,615, while the same result in the higher-tier Abu Dhabi tournament will net a player just USD $28,695.
If this were an isolated incident, it might be chalked up to a quirk in scheduling or event funding. But this is not an anomaly. This is the rule, not the exception. The women’s game continues to lag behind financially despite boasting some of the most compelling athletes and narratives in professional sports. And while gender pay disparities are hardly unique to tennis, the problem here isn’t simply about prize money. It’s about the WTA’s complete failure to elevate its sport, its players, and its product in the way that other women’s sports leagues have successfully done.
For years, the WTA has suffered from rudderless leadership, and there is no better example than former CEO Steve Simon, who was given far too long at the helm. His tenure was defined by missteps, inaction, and an inability to capitalize on golden opportunities. Women’s tennis boasts global superstars, iconic rivalries, and some of the most thrilling storylines in sports. And yet, instead of growing the sport and increasing its visibility, the WTA under Simon stumbled through years of lost momentum.
Take, for instance, the handling of the Peng Shuai crisis. When the Chinese player accused a former government official of sexual assault, the WTA initially took a strong stand, pulling events from China in an admirable show of solidarity. But then, without any meaningful resolution, the tour quietly returned to China in 2023, signaling weakness and inconsistency. This was emblematic of the larger problem: the WTA often started strong on big-picture issues but lacked the strategic follow-through necessary to turn these moments into lasting progress for the sport.
Meanwhile, the marketing and branding of the WTA have remained shockingly stagnant. While the ATP has leaned into the global appeal of men’s tennis, securing better sponsorship deals and financial backing, the WTA has failed to create a compelling, must-watch product beyond the four Grand Slams.
Contrast this with the WNBA, a league that has transformed itself over the past decade. Once dismissed as an afterthought in the sports landscape, the WNBA has aggressively marketed its stars, leaned into social media engagement, and, most importantly, sold a narrative that people want to buy into.
Current stars Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and (the next star) Paige Bueckers became household names before even stepping into the WNBA. Why? Because the league and its media partners have ensured that their stories are everywhere. The WNBA has embraced its identity, fostered rivalries, and created a product that feels dynamic and essential. As a result, they are seeing real progress in television ratings, sponsorships, and even player salaries. Even a comparatively less-talented rookie such as Seattle’s Nika Muhl became a social media superstar in her first year because of her world-class fashion sense. The WNBA understands something that clearly eludes the WTA: to market one’s stars means marketing them as real people with real interests, and that includes things such as personal style.
The WTA, by contrast, has seemingly done the opposite. It has failed to capitalize on its generational stars. Iga Swiatek is a dominant world No. 1 with a compelling story. Coco Gauff is a dynamic, young American star who just won her first Grand Slam. Aryna Sabalenka is one of the most entertaining and engaging personalities on tour. Yet, unless you are an avid tennis fan, chances are you haven’t been bombarded with their highlights, rivalries, or narratives the way you have been with Clark and Reese in women’s basketball.
The biggest fear here isn’t just that women’s tennis is stagnating. It’s that the moment might be passing altogether. Other women’s sports, from basketball to soccer, are aggressively growing their audiences. New revenue streams are emerging, and investors are pouring money into leagues that see the value of the female sports market. If the WTA does not act soon, it risks being left behind.
There are no excuses. The sport has the athletes, the history, and the global reach to be a dominant force. What it needs is leadership willing to go beyond vague promises of “equality” and actually build the infrastructure to make it happen. That means negotiating better media deals, creating more engaging content, and ensuring that top-tier women’s tournaments are financially competitive with their ATP equivalents. It means treating the WTA Finals with the same prestige as the ATP Finals and not shuffling it around from city to city without consistency or proper marketing.
Women’s tennis should not just be playing catch-up. It should be setting the standard. But until the WTA stops wasting its own potential, the reality is that the sport’s biggest opportunities will continue to slip away.
A Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer, Aron Solomon, JD, is the Chief Strategy Officer for AMPLIFY. He has taught entrepreneurship at McGill University and the University of Pennsylvania, and was elected to Fastcase 50, recognizing the top 50 legal innovators in the world. Aron has been featured in Newsweek, The Hill, Fast Company, Fortune, Forbes, CBS News, CNBC, USA Today, ESPN, TechCrunch, BuzzFeed, Venture Beat, The Independent, Fortune China, Abogados, Today’s Esquire, Yahoo!, ABA Journal, Law.com, The Boston Globe, and many other leading publications across the globe.
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