Billie Jean King Cup Finals offers record prizemoney in line with Davis Cup
The 2023 Billie Jean King Cup Finals, the prestigious women’s national teams tennis competition, will provide players with a record prizemoney pool equivalent to that of the men’s Davis Cup Finals, according to the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
The ITF will distribute a total prize purse of USD$9.6 million, with the reigning world champions set to receive an unprecedented USD$2.4 million as part of the ITF’s Advantage All program, aimed at enhancing the value of women’s tennis. These additional funds will be awarded through the ITF’s partnership with US-based insurance company Gainbridge, the event’s title sponsor.
Gainbridge replaced multinational bank BNP Paribas as the title sponsor last year, ending the bank’s 15-year sponsorship tenure.
The record prizemoney for this year’s competition is broken down into three tiers: the runners-up will receive USD$1.44 million, semi-finalists will be awarded USD$960,000 and teams in the group stage will get USD$480,000.
“Achieving gender parity in our sport is a key part of the ITF’s Advantage All program, and I am delighted we have been able to offer equivalent prize money with the Davis Cup Finals again this year,” said ITF President David Haggerty.
“We are grateful to our title sponsor Gainbridge for helping to make this possible and for its ongoing support as we continue to build on the recent growth of the women’s World Cup of Tennis.”
The 2023 Billie Jean King Cup Finals kicked off at La Cartuja Stadium in Seville, with the opening match seeing 2022 runners-up Australia upset by Slovenia.
TENNIS | Slovenia claimed its first ever Billie Jean King Cup Finals win, with a 2-1 victory over Australia to move one step closer to advancing to the semi-finals of the 2023 team event. #BJKCup
📷: via BJK Cuphttps://t.co/oi6ECIwjtC— Rookie Me Central (@RookieMeCentral) November 8, 2023
Iberdrola, a Spanish energy company, was recently named as a commercial partner of the Billie Jean King Cup. The event also enjoys global sponsorship from Tory Burch, Microsoft and Magellan.
The Billie Jean King Cup underwent a rebranding from its previous iteration, the Fed Cup, in 2020, and this year’s finals tournament commemorates the 60th anniversary of the competition’s inception.
The participating nations in this year’s finals include Switzerland, Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Poland, Slovenia, Spain (aiming for a sixth title) and the United States.
In August, TWG Global, the holding company of billionaire businessman Mark Walter, secured a 49 percent stake in the tournament.
This investment established a new commercial entity, Billie Jean King Cup Limited, responsible for selling sponsorship, broadcast and other commercial rights alongside Billie Jean King Enterprises (BJKE), an investment vehicle focused on women’s sports founded by Billie Jean King and led by her wife, Ilana Kloss.
Image credit: Nuță Lucian
