Tennis has led the fight for gender equality in sports, but that progress has yet to pay off. More than 50 years after the Battle of the Sexes, women still take home a fraction of the prize money their male counterparts earn.
In 2023, Tennis Canada, along with the WTA and National Bank, announced a four-year plan to close the prize-money gap between men and women at the Canadian Open. Just a year shy of its deadline, a campaign starring National Bank ambassador and 2025 National Bank Open Champion Vicky Mboko launched ahead of the tournament in August. The video aired day and night at one National Bank branch in the Financial District. As streetcars rattled by, taking people to and from work, close-ups of Mboko beamed from the giant screen, along with girls and women of all ages and walks of life playing tennis. One girl practices her forehand in a high school gymnasium, while another slams her racquet into a wall. A frustrated teen sits on a physio table sidelined with a knee injury. Another woman breastfeeds her child courtside next to the net. Each scene shows us just what it takes—obstacles, sacrifices, tears, and all—to pursue the sport professionally. The ad closes on Mboko’s tournament-winning shot from the year before.
The campaign draws its emotional heft from these scenarios, by giving us people, not ideals, to root for. But while it showcases their sacrifices, it leaves out a crucial detail: the prize money gap. In 2025, Mboko took home $752,275 from the tournament, while the men’s champion, Ben Shelton, left with $1.12 million.