Novak Djokovic, the world Number 1, came out with controversial comments regarding the gender equality issues in Tennis. He stated: “The stats show we have much more spectators on the men’s tennis matches. I think that’s one of the reasons why maybe we should get awarded more”.
Currently in tennis, men and women have received the same amount of prize money from some period of time. The US Open first granted equal prize money in 1973, Australian Open in 2001, French Open in 2006, Wimbledon (who were the last) in 2007. This is one of the few sports that displays this level of equality. For Example, in the 2015 Women’s World Cup won 2$ compared to a massive 35$ for the Men’s World Cup. However, Djokovic’s comments have kicked up another question about tennis. Women receive the same amount of money despite playing only 3 sets, compared to 5 for men. Personally, I believe that this is irrelevant. Simply because Women do not play the same amount as Men does not mean that they are any less capable of playing for the same length. Djokovic argued for greater prize money because men’s games attract more crowds and, therefore, more revenue. However, this is not necessarily true and women’s games do attract an equal amount of attention.
My favourite tennis gal, Serena Williams, had a perfect response stating “If I have a daughter who plays tennis and also have a son that plays tennis, I wouldn’t say that my son deserves more because he is a man. If they both started at three years old I would say they both deserve the same amount of money.” She then further went on to highlight how big tennis is for women: “We have had so many great women champions and players who have brought such great vision to the sport. There have been great men players too, but women’s tennis is the biggest sport for women—period.” Andy Murray then had his say on the matter, whose wife has just given birth to a daughter in February, saying “The crowds are coming to watch the women as well.”
My opinion on the matter that this is only a positive thing; women’s tennis does attract a huge amount of spectators – arguably as equally as men – and therefore, I see no reason why equal prize money should not be awarded. In fact, in the case of super-women Serena, she has won 21 Grand Slam titles at age 34; she is inspirational for either sex.
This issue was further stirred by Raymond Moore who is the CEO of the BNP Paribas Open, saying “If I was a lady player, I’d go down every night on my knees and thank god that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born because they have carried this sport. They really have.” He did go on to apologise later but the damage was already done as people were outraged by his comments – and rightly so!
Again, Miss Williams became involved saying: “I think there is a lot of women out there who are very exciting to watch. I think there are a lot of men out there who are exciting to watch. I think it definitely goes both ways. I think those remarks are very much mistaken and very, very, very inaccurate.” Moore has since stepped down as CEO.
I believe that the comment he made is extremely harsh and untrue. Women tennis players are not any less interesting because they are female. At the highest level, male and female players are both equally interesting and I find it equally as entertaining watching both games. It may be true that lower the standard of tennis, it is less thrilling to watch but the same can be said about both men and women’s tennis; this is not a gender issue, this is a skill issue.
Not only are these comments extremely belittling, there is no need for them to be put them out in the public sphere when they are completely wrong. Have your opinion, just make sure that your facts are correct before voicing them and attacking the opposite sex.
Photos:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/serena-williams-venus-williams-us-open-tenni…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/12199882/Nova…