Shenzhen WTA Finals set to offer largest tennis prize in history – male or female – with US$4.7 million up for grabs

WTA chief executive officer Steve Simon says they were sold on Shenzhen ‘walking the walk’ when it comes to women in sports

The winner of the finals event could take home US$4.7 million, the biggest cheque in all of professional tennis

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Japan's Naomi Osaka could snag the world’s largest tennis purse ever, for men or women, if she wins the WTA Shenzhen Finals this October. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:40pm, 18 Jul 2019Updated: 11:00pm, 18 Jul 2019

The WTA Finals, to be held in Shenzhen in October, will offer prize money that could add up to be the biggest payout for an individual winner in the history of the women’s – and men’s – game.

If the singles champion of the Women’s Tennis Association – the organisation’s flagship annual tournament – wins all of her matches (three round robin games plus the semi-final and final) she will take home US$4.725 million, which the WTA is calling the largest individual purse in tennis.

WTA chief executive Steve Simon said on Thursday in Shenzhen that the prize money was a fitting reward to be on offer in a major event taking place in a city that “walked the walk”.

Shenzhen won the right to stage the tournament by beating bids from places including Prague, Manchester and Singapore.

Steve Simon, head of the WTA, said Shenzhen sold them on the unprecedented purse. Photo: WTA

“Of course, a lot of others will follow suit, but as of now, this will be the biggest for men or women,” said Simon. “So this is the first time [in tennis] we will be paying the women more than the men.”