Queen's Championships lifts women's purse by 35 per cent ahead of June draw

This summer's women's draw at the Queen's Club Championships will carry a substantially larger purse, with organisers lifting total prize money by 35 per cent.

The women's pot now stands at $1.915 million, equivalent to about £1.43 million — roughly half a million dollars more than before. Officials say the move forms part of a longer plan to align women's and men's payouts at the west London event, which stages both draws on consecutive weeks in June.

For 2025, the men's competition will still pay out more: €2.583 million, or about £2.238 million. A gap between the two purses therefore remains, although the club has said it aims to reach equal prize money by 2029.

Even after this year's rise, the women's purse exceeds what a WTA 500 event must offer and is likely to rank among the richest tournaments at that tier on the calendar.

Fan interest has followed the financial growth. Organisers report that more than 90 per cent of seats for the women's bracket, which opens on 8 June, are already sold. Women's singles returned to Queen's last year for the first time since 1973; Germany's Tatjana Maria won that edition.

The trend extends beyond Queen's. Prize money at the WTA 250 Eastbourne International will increase by 28 per cent, part of a wider uplift across the grass-court stretch that leads into Wimbledon.