Maria Sharapova had a simple retort to the notion that men should be paid more than women at Grand Slam tournaments. Serena Williams just laughed and covered her face with one hand before delivering her own riposte.
Two of the biggest stars of women’s tennis did not hold back on Thursday when responding to comments made this week by men’s world No. 13 Gilles Simon — a member of the ATP Player Council — that have rekindled the debate over equal prize money and made it a hot topic again at Wimbledon.
While Simon defended his viewpoint and said that a majority of male players agree with him — but are afraid to speak out — Sharapova offered a clear answer to why she deserves the money she earns.
“I’m sure there are a few more people that watch my matches than his,” she said.
On a more serious note, Sharapova added: “Look, we women have fought so long to get equal prize money. It was a big challenge and nobody really supported us. It’s been a few years since we’ve gotten that. We’re all really proud of it, and we continue to build the sport and make it bigger.”
Sharapova’s comments were relayed to Williams after her match on Centre Court.
“You know I can’t bite my tongue,” Williams said. “Definitely a lot more people are watching Maria than Simon. She’s way hotter than he is. 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.”
In 2007, Wimbledon became the last Grand Slam tournament to start giving equal prize money to the men’s and women’s singles champions. The French Open introduced it a year earlier, copying the US Open and Australian Open, which have had it for years.
Simon, however, believes male players provide more entertainment during matches and should be compensated accordingly.
“The 128 players [in the men’s singles draw at Wimbledon] think just like me, that’s for sure. Just ask them,” the Frenchman said. “Maybe they can’t say it ... Maybe they will lose, I don’t know, US$2 million on the contracts if they say that.”
“My point of view was just about the entertainment. If you just watch how it is working in every other sport, even for the singers, you’re just paid by the public directly. My point was that I have the feeling that men’s tennis is actually more interesting than women’s tennis,” he added. “As in any business or anything, you just have to be paid just about that. It’s not because we play five sets and they are playing three.”
Simon also said that Wimbledon charges more for tickets to the men’s singles final than the women’s. This year, for example, a seat at Centre Court for the men’s final costs £120 (US$185), while tickets are £105 for the women’s.
In public, though, male players have been slow to back Simon.
Roger Federer avoided wading into the debate after his second-round win on Wednesday.
Andy Roddick said the whole debate should not become “a gender issue” and that tennis was a business like any other.
“I’m sure there’s a way to figure out who people are coming to watch,” Roddick said. “I’m sure there’s TV ratings to look at. I’m sure there are ample numbers out there to dissect. As any business goes, you look at those numbers and then decide where it goes from there.”
Andy Murray said: “There’s a lot of things the guys do agree on,” and said it was easier for women to play both singles and doubles at the Grand Slams because they play fewer sets.
“It’s not always just about equal pay, it’s about the way the men’s and women’s tournaments differ,” he said.
Simon faced a series of pointed questions from reporters after his loss, with one asking whether he felt he had delivered an entertaining performance in falling in straight sets.
“That doesn’t change anything,” Simon said. “My point of view doesn’t depend on my result.”
He added that women should be entitled to more prize money than men if the women’s game becomes “more interesting” — and did not argue against Sharapova’s point.
“Maria is more famous than me. I know it. She deserves to earn more money than me,” he said.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with