Jessica Pegula Criticizes Prize Money Gap, Highlighting Inequality in Tennis

Jessica Pegula has criticized the ongoing prize money gap in professional tennis, citing the persistent disparity between ATP and WTA tournaments. The American star used her Charleston Open victory as a case study to highlight the sport’s obvious inequality.

Pegula secured the WTA 500 tournament in Charleston in April, which is her only clay-court silverware this season. She defeated Yulia Starodubtseva 6-2, 6-2 in the final and earned approximately $354,345 for her triumph, while the runner-up received $$218,225. The tournament also received a 116% increase in total prize money in 2025.

The prize money highlighted a significant year-on-year shift in distribution in all rounds, including the qualifying stages. Pegula had earned just $164,000 in 2025 after beating Sofia Kenin in the final, while the runner-up claimed $101,000. However, the contrast between what Pegula received in Charleston this season and what the Barcelona Open winner got is a huge gap.

Arthur Fils, who claimed the ATP 500 clay title in Barcelona, earned roughly $579,000, more than $200,000 of what Pegula got at the same level of the circuit. Also, Carlos Alcaraz has won two titles this season and played six events but has won a total of $4.36 million in prize money, but Elena Rybakina, who has played nine tournaments has claimed $4.31 million.

Jannik Sinner leads in both women’s and men’s circuits for the highest prize money this season ($6.72 million). The debate over the prize money gap has only been addressed at Grand Slam tournaments, but the WTA and ATP have yet to follow suit. In an interview with Bloomberg, Pegula says there are discrepancies in prize money in the ATP and WTA:

There’s this perception that men’s and women’s prize money is equal. At the Slams, it is, but at many other events, it isn’t. There’s a big discrepancy there. The tournament owner Ben Navarro announced he was going to match the WTA 500 prize money with ATP 500 level tournaments. That’s a big difference. It was an amazing announcement. I joked, ‘You couldn’t have done it this year,’ but it paid off since I won this year. It sets a high standard for other tournaments.

Pegula has earned more than $24.4 million in career prize money, including 11 titles and four WTA 1000 championships. This season alone, she has earned $2.56 million, and she sits fifth in the list of women’s players who have earned the highest on tour this season. Rybakina sits first with $4.31 million, while Sabalenka comes second with $4.1 million, then Elina Svitolina with $2.92 million, and Coco Gauff with $2.71 million.

Jessica Pegula says it’s hard for all tennis players to be in agreement on an issue

A few weeks ago, Aryna Sabalenka threatened that players may have to boycott Grand Slam tournaments for the organizers to begin to listen to their demands. She said that after the French Open confirmed their prize money, which was less than 16% of the total revenue pool for this year’s edition.

Jessica Pegula was among the few players to admit that the problem with the negotiations between players and Grand Slam organizers has been a lack of proper communication. During the aforementioned interview, she revealed that professional tennis is an individual sport, which makes it hard to reach a collective agreement on an issue:

We don’t really have a players’ union or anyone that represents players collectively. Tennis players are very independent. It’s hard to get everyone aligned because we’re all individuals. I don’t know if you’ll ever see a strike or boycott. There’s always talk of it, but in tennis you earn money by winning matches. There’s no salary, no guaranteed income. That changes how players think—you need to keep playing.

Pegula is the fifth seed at the French Open, which kicks off on May 24. She has had impressive runs at the tournament but has never reached the semi-finals. Her best run at the event came in 2022 when she got to the quarter-finals. She will look to get past that stage at this year’s Grand Slam event.

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