Swing And A Hit: In ’25, Hologic WTA Tour Seeks To Build On Success Of ’24

By Barry Janoff

January 9, 2025: Coming off a 2024 season in which it had record prize money, marketing, fan interaction and expanded global growth, the Hologic WTA Tour said it is “set to deliver another thrilling season of tennis in 2025 with more tournaments, new and expanded events and groundbreaking off-court initiatives.”

The 2025 Hologic WTA Tour will encompass 51 tournaments across 26 countries and regions (not including WTA 125s), starting this month with five events in Australia and New Zealand prior to the Australian Open.

“The Hologic WTA Tour delivers incredible entertainment, and fans can expect the 2025 season to serve even more fierce competition, intense rivalries, captivating performances and unforgettable moments,” Portia Archer, who was named WTA CEO this past June, said via the group.

“We are incredibly proud to have the largest global reach in women’s sport, with events in 26 countries and regions and a worldwide audience of more than one billion.”

WTA said 2025 highlights would see continued growth in prize money for the WTA’s 1,600 players, building on the new record set in 2024 of $221 million, an increase of $42 million versus 2023

The 2024 total includes the $4.8 million awarded to WTA Finals Riyadh champion Coco Gauff (pictured below), called “the biggest prize ever won in female sports.”

Two WTA 1000 events, The National Bank Open presented by Rogers (Montreal) and the Cincinnati Open, will expand to become 12-day tournaments.

An expanded grass-court schedule in the U.K. includes a new venue in London, Queen’s Club, for a WTA 500 in June, followed by WTA 250s in Nottingham and Eastbourne.

On-going development of WTA 125s, including an expanded calendar to be announced, with each tournament live streamed on WTA Unlocked.

The WTA said it would also “continue to champion women’s health and empowerment in 2025, advancing the philanthropic work of the WTA Foundation in support of its mission to empower girls and women in communities around the world to live fully through initiatives promoting equality, education, leadership and health & wellness.”

In 2025, the WTA Foundation said it would continue working to transform women’s health and nutrition globally through its "Women Change the Game" campaign with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Hologic.

The campaign’s Global Women’s Health Fund “mobilizes resources for life-saving women’s health and nutrition products and services that are readily available in high-income countries but are difficult to access or altogether unavailable in low-and middle-income countries.”

According to the WTA, total attendance in 2024 increased by 15% at Hologic WTA Tour events to surpass 3.5 million in total.

Photo: WTAFor the second consecutive year, the WTA said it achieved a global audience of more than 1 billion on TV and streaming platforms.

WTA’s growing impact also was felt on social media.

The Top 20 most-followed WTA players now reach a combined total of 58.5 million followers, an increase of 29% over the last 12 months.

In addition, there are 6.4 million followers of official WTA social channels as of the end of December, up 25% since the previous year, according to the WTA.

Seeking what it called “deeper engagement with fans,” WTA launched WTA Unlocked, a free membership platform offering such options as fantasy games and live-streams.

In conduction with the WTA’s overall growth, 11 of the world’s 20 highest-earning female athletes are WTA players. according to Forbes.

Gauff earned $34.4 million overall this past year including endorsements, No. 1 among all female athletes.

Iga Świątek earned $23.8 million overall. No. 2 among all female athletes. Zheng Qinwen was no. 4 overall ($20.6 million) and Sabalenka No. 5 ($18.7 million).

The WTA prize money leader in 2024 was world No. 1 ranked Aryna Sabalenka ($9,729,260), followed by Gauff ($9,353,847) and Swiatek ($8,550,693). (See Top Ten list below.)

 In 2023, WTA Ventures was launched as a strategic partnership between the Hologic WTA Tour and CVC Capital Partners as the commercial arm of the WTA.

In the first year of its “mission to fuel the growth of professional women’s tennis,” WTA Ventures expects to increase revenue by 24% in its first full year, setting a new record for the WTA’s commercial revenue.

“We are proud to have the largest global reach in women’s sport, with events in 26 countries and regions and a worldwide audience of more than one billion.”

“(This) has been a huge year of progress for WTA Ventures as our new growth strategy starts to deliver on the exciting opportunities for women’s tennis,” Marina Storti, WTA Ventures, CEO, said via the group. “To increase commercial revenue by almost a quarter in year one is a tribute to great work by the entire team that we’ve brought together.

“Our aim is to make women’s tennis a commercial powerhouse so that we can fuel reinvestment in the sport and help the WTA to keep championing our amazing athletes and events.”

WTA Ventures said the increase in revenue puts it “on course to achieve its long-term goal of tripling commercial revenue over the six years between 2023 and 2029.”

Over the past year, the WTA added partners including Rolex; a three-year alliance with the Saudi Tennis Federation to host the WTA Finals in Riyadh between 2024-26; and a multi-year global partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund that encompassed naming rights to Year End World No.1 and the first naming rights for the official WTA Rankings.

There also were renewed commercial partnerships with Corpay, Morgan Stanley and StatsPerform; and a ⁠collaboration between title partner Hologic, the Gates Foundation and the WTA Foundation to launch Global Women’s Health Fund to support better health and nutrition for women worldwide.

In addition, new media rights deals for 2024 and beyond were signed with Sky Sports (UK & Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland), CANAL+ (Czech Republic and Slovakia), and Youku (China).

“As the original trailblazer in women’s sport, our ambitions go well beyond the court,” said Archer.

“We will continue to champion our incredible athletes and create real change through our programs and commitment to advocate for women’s health and empowerment around the world.”

WTA Prize Money Leaders 2024:

$9,729,260: Aryna Sabalenka

$9,353,847: Coco Gauff

$8,550,693: Iga Swiatek

$5,820,798: Jasmine Paolini

$5,559,555: Zheng Qinwen

$4,770,340: Barbora Krejcikova

$4,186,622: Jessica Pegula

$3,876,915: Elena Rybakina

$2,783,414: Elise Mertens

$2,751,968: Emma Navarros

Source: WTA

In First Year, WTA Ventures ‘Fuels The Growth Of Professional Women’s Tennis’

Back to Home Page