Gilles Simon Vs. Maria Sharapova: Simon Believes Male Tennis Players Should Be Paid More

Men’s tennis player Gilles Simon has recently made comments stating that male tennis players should be paid more overall than women tennis players, according to USA Today.

The little known 13th ranked Frenchman recently spoke out in an interview claiming that “men’s tennis is ahead of women’s tennis,” adding that “men spend twice as long on court as women do at Grand Slams” which should merit them more overall pay than women because they “provide a more attractive show.”

The comments understandably didn’t sit well with the top women players of the world such as Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams as they both individually spoke out against the comments made by Simon.

After finishing up her match against Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, Sharapova was able to slip in a comment regarding the matter saying:

“I’m sure there are a few more people that watch my matches than his, so…”

Serena had her chance to speak up after learning about Sharapova’s small jab back at the now disliked Simon after she defeated Hungarian Melinda Czink 6-1, 6-4.

“You know, I can’t bite my tongue,” Williams said. “Definitely a lot more people are watching Maria than Simon,” adding,

“Women’s tennis, I think, is really awesome. … It’s a great fight. We fought for years with Billie Jean King, and Venus (Williams) as well, really set the pattern on what we should do.”

When further probed about the comments after his loss to Xavier Malisse, Simon attempted to clarify the issue, dragging the entire Men’s locker room into the argument along with him.

“Just check the price of the ticket from the men’s final and the woman’s final for example,” he said. “That’s the way it works in life and everything,” adding,

“It’s not only my point of view, it’s the point of view of everybody in the locker room, even for you, the media.”

“Just to say it has to be equal because there is a struggle in life in general, I’m not sure it’s a very good argument,” he said.

This seems to be the beginning of a war of words between Maria Sharapova and Gilles Simon that should prove to be interesting.

Do you think that men and women should receive equal pay in all four Grand Slams as they currently do?