Top Tennis Players Novak Djokovic And Serena Williams Feud Over Equal Pay For Men And Women
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic jumped into an ongoing debate on equal pay for women in the tennis world after he won the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, by questioning whether women players deserved equal prize money as men.
The Serbian top seed was speaking after his victory in Indian Wells, in response to an earlier statement by the CEO of the tournament that the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rode “on the coattails” of the men’s tennis, according to ESPN.
While women tennis players such as Serena Williams have responded with outrage at the CEO’s words, Djokovic conceded that this might be right.
“I think that our men’s tennis world, ATP world, should fight for more because the stats are showing that 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. Women should fight for what they think they deserve and we should fight for what we think we deserve.”
Novak Djokovic turned to statistics to support his point that men deserve more prize money than women, because their matches brought in more spectators (and, thus, more money in ticket sales).
His argument against equal pay for women in the tennis world came in response to the Indian Wells CEO Raymond Moore’s claims that women’s tennis depended on men’s tennis, and even rode on the coattails of men’s tennis.
Moore’s controversial statements, which were subsequently retracted with an apology, were reported by ESPN as follows.
“They [the WTA] don’t make any decisions, and they are lucky. They are very, very lucky. 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.”
It was this suggestion that women “go down on their knees” and that women’s tennis — the WTA — depends on men’s tennis that stirred trouble in the tennis world.
As already noted, Novak Djokovic — the top male player — supported Moore’s statements that women’s tennis must be grateful to men’s tennis (the ATP).
Though the Serbian Djokovic added that the CEO’s statements were “not politically correct,” stating that women deserved respect and dignity, implying that he was not advocating that any woman tennis player go down on her knees, his ultimate point was that equal pay for women tennis players was not possible.
His main point was that men’s tennis had to be paid more than women’s tennis, because men — statistically — had higher ratings.
Djokovic’s argument against equal pay for women is shared by many in the men’s tennis world. His pointing to statistics is also supported by evidence.
On average, as reported by BBC, there were “973 million viewers for Men’s 2015 ATP tour [compared to the] 395 million for Women’s 2015 WTA events and finals.”
As Novak Djokovic said, male tennis players get paid more, because they attract more viewers. Equal pay for men and women in tennis will be a reality, when equal viewers for men and women’s tennis is reality.
This point, along with all the empirical evidence, was dismissed by women’s top seed Serena Williams.
“I don’t think any woman should be down on their knees thanking anybody.”
To a suggestion that perhaps she was misinterpreting Moore’s statements, Serena Williams responded.
“You know, there’s only one way to interpret that. Get on your knees, which is offensive enough, and thank a man, which is not — we, as women, have come a long way.”
Williams also responded to Novak Djokovic’s allegation that women get paid less because they have less viewership by adding that women’s tennis had many spectators, oftentimes even more than men’s tennis. Serena, as reported by CNN, “pointed to last year’s U.S. Open, when the women’s final sold out before the men’s for the first time.”
With this statistic to combat Novak Djokovic’s statistic that men’s tennis has more viewers than women’s tennis, Serena Williams defended the women’s fight for equal pay.
[Photo by Pool/Getty Images]
