Novak Djokovic not keen on equal prize money for men and women

[Deleted]

Wait, is Tennisace arguing against women getting equal pay because they are women?

Is ... is this a real thread?

[Stormspellz]

Well the argument is equal pay for equal work though right? So Women's tennis should have smaller prizes to make it equal, at least for the majors.

devil's advocate- which gender brings in more revenue? and would that still be considered equal work?

[Crissi]

Honestly, if the men are working more (5 sets v 3 sets), that alone deserves more pay. If they also bring in more viewers, then yeah men should have a bigger prize.

Still love Serena though. I could never get into men's tennis, but liked watching her and Venus.

[Archon14]

Seems to me that the one who was asking questions jumped for controversy and landed on his face. Good answer by Novak.

[InDecisive]

Well the argument is equal pay for equal work though right? So Women's tennis should have smaller prizes to make it equal, at least for the majors.

Equal work doesn't mean equal effort being put in, it means the value of the labour is equal. The men's labour is more valuable if they're attracting more viewers and sponsors.

[Rennadrel]

If its recognition, I think women deserve like several times what men make in tennis. I don't think I know of a single male tennis player, not that I pay attention to the sport.

There are a number of women who make considerably more than men in professional tennis just in endorsements and advertising deals alone. Hell, Sharapova was getting 60 million alone in sponsorship deals despite the fact that she hasn't won many championships in recent years. The majority of men on the pro tennis circuit don't get endorsement contracts, you really have to be in the top 5-10 to get anywhere near that kind of recognition. Heck, even the young up and coming stars hardly get much at all and have to win major tournaments to start seeing sponsorship deals.

[Noradin]

I love tennis and most people who love it agree that the equal prize money is unfair.

Are you sharing your account or why do you comment on yourself in the third person?

[Deleted]

Be me.
See title.
See post.

"Aaah it makes sense, it's just Tennisace"

[Polyxo]

There are a number of women who make considerably more than men in professional tennis just in endorsements and advertising deals alone. Hell, Sharapova was getting 60 million alone in sponsorship deals despite the fact that she hasn't won many championships in recent years. The majority of men on the pro tennis circuit don't get endorsement contracts, you really have to be in the top 5-10 to get anywhere near that kind of recognition. Heck, even the young up and coming stars hardly get much at all and have to win major tournaments to start seeing sponsorship deals.

Well, that's kind of my point. At least as an outsider, it would seem that women bring WAY more revenue to the sport due to public recognition. The only way this doesn't happen is if the public just doesn't care at all about tennis, and then the sport is just supported endlessly by a small cadre of tennis nerds, who incidentally don't like female athletes.

[Annoying]

Are you sharing your account or why do you comment on yourself in the third person?

"I love tennis" -- The sport. Not the poster. At least that's what I'd assume.

[Joycemiester]

Tennis is pretty much the biggest sport behind football and cricket here in the UK, partly because of Wimbledon

Globally it's football, cricket, hockey and tennis

In UK tennis is very far down the list. Certainly not 3rd. Tennis is my main sport and I cannot even find a tennis magazine in my local big supermarkets.
I can find magazines for every other sport, heck even snow boarding.

[Svad]

I have seen maybe 3-4 male tennis games. I have seen atleast 200 female tennis games, more money to the girls please!

[Joycemiester]

Most tournaments men have to play more as well, whereas woman have a best out of 3, men play best out of 5. So in this case I think I'll agree with Djokovic.

No not most. Only the Davis Cup ( a team competition) , Grandslams of which there are only four in a whole year and the final of Tour Championships.
The rest of the year they both play max of three sets. The season runs from January through November so the proportion is small.

[Kallisto]

Tennis is pretty much the biggest sport behind football and cricket here in the UK, partly because of Wimbledon

Globally it's football, cricket, hockey and tennis

It really isn't that big in the UK

Really the top 5 followed sports within the UK is

Football
Rugby Union
Cricket
Rugby League
F1

Hell in recent years I'd say NFL is more followed here than Tennis, and I'm a Tennis fan

[Underverse]

Wait, is Tennisace arguing against women getting equal pay because they are women?

Is ... is this a real thread?

He's not actually a feminist, he just thinks women have a very specific place in society and any deviation from those acceptable roles is a moral tragedy.

[Lysah]

lol @ people in this thread who have never watched a game of tennis in their lives pretending like their opinions have any weight

If you don't know who Djokovic is, you can just stay out of the thread, it's not that hard to not click the post button. This man is a legend and if you don't recognize his name you are so out of touch with tennis that talking about it is like having a discussion about astrophysics with a kindergartner. There are many powerful players in this generation who have swept the world repeatedly, and out of all of them Djokovic is the one people are going to remember. We aren't talking about the best tennis player right now, we are potentially talking about the best player in the history of the sport.

With that said, anyone saying "men's tennis isn't even watchable" clearly has never actually watched an actual match. The skill and athletic difference between men and women is INSANE, women's tennis is honestly not even a sport in comparison to men's. Mixed doubles is a total joke that basically only exists to show off celebrities, and women's tennis is more like a round of golf than an actual match, with two pretty girls dancing around for 30 minutes and having a nice handshake at the end before they go for a cup of tea. Men's tennis is the entire sport, there is nothing much more to say about that.

I'm sure this has linked before already but here you go again
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle...lliams_sisters
The difference is staggering, and this is even to account the extreme difference between Serena and pretty much every female, and she is still a pathetic weakling compared to any of the men.

I'm all for equality and that good shit but the difference between men's and women's tennis is a joke. For a nice comparison, how about that WNBA? Real exciting sport enjoyed by millions right there.

[Tennis]

Are you sharing your account or why do you comment on yourself in the third person?

I love the sport of tennis. Better?

[Jinpachi]

not counting the physical freaks that are the williams sisters, women cant compete with men on a tennis court, and therefore shouldnt be paid the same. when they can consistently BEAT men on the pro tour, then they can sit at the table and demand equal pay. till then, fight for as much as you can get, but dont ever say what you do is equal to what the men are doing, because it'll be proven wrong in a match.

[Faesroll]

Even the Williams sisters who are twice as muscular as the rest of the women don't stand a chance against any male player in the top 500. The difference in power is enormous.

[AeneasBK]

(I'm not sure if it was my comments that started this whole "femle players vs male players" debate but I certainly wasn't trying to suggest they compete verses each other. Just that I found it hard to believe that professional female tennis players *couldn't* play a best of 5 set match (5 match set??) if they had to. I can see that the decline in quality of play would hamper that side of the sport even more if that was introduced from people that clearly watch a lot more tennis than me so fair enough.)

Anyway, I only bring it up because apparently Novak has felt the need to apologise for his comments. Which is a bit of a shame really, I think everyone admits he handled the question perfectly fine, and if there is any "injustice" here, it's kinda determined by the capitalist nature of entertainment sports and nothing more.