Equal pay in tennis

[The Wizard]

No they aren't paid a rate in line with their achievement. If they were, women's footballers would get as much as men. They're paid in line with the amount of money the tournaments make, from ticket sales, TV rights, advertising etc. If the players were on court for 30 minutes each, you wouldn't get so many spectators, such lucrative TV deals or so much advertising revenue.

Exactly. God damn feminists. Poor hard done by female tennis players.

Feminism

 

[Bad Ash]

Why don't the top female footballers get paid £300k a week?

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Equal pay in the non-grand slam events where it is best of 3 sets for both sexes, however, in grand slam events a long ladies match is 2 hours, a long men's match is 4 hours - so equal pay is fine but men would earn double, just like the real world where like for like workers who work twice as long get twice the pay.

WhT do you class as their "work" though ? There is an argument that both men and women sacrificed a lot of their youth and dedicated equal amounts of time training etc., that their work is equal, the actual time on court is just the end product.

Personally, as a tennis lover, I watched him both (apart from the female grunters, hate that), but a good mens 5 setter with the momentum switching all the time cannot be rivalled by 3 sets. So, purely from an entertainment point of view I'd pay men more.

 

[matthew]

Do they not get paid enough already then?

To be fair if you're not in the top 100 you stuggle

 

[brightn'ove]

Exactly. God damn feminists. Poor hard done by female tennis players.

Feminism

where are the female tennis players moaning? Its the 'poor hard done by' djokovic, who earns multi-millions a year in sponsorship deals, moaning about not winning a little bit more than women in prize money.

Poor *******, probably won't be able to buy the new Bugatti this summer

 

[Triggaaar]

I'm saying when the players turn up for a tournament they know how much you get for winning, you are saying medium/ long term that amount is impacted by a variety of factors dependent of the entertainment and longevity of the offering.

Yes.

Deuce.

Eh?

 

[The Wizard]

where are the female tennis players moaning? Its the 'poor hard done by' djokovic, who earns multi-millions a year in sponsorship deals, moaning about not winning a little bit more than women in prize money.

Poor *******, probably won't be able to buy the new Bugatti this summer

Have a search, a fair few female tennis players have issue with it. I'm a massive tennis fan and follower, and I can honestly say my annoyance with the whole feminism thing aside, men's tennis is simply far better and gets bigger crowds and bigger tv deals - thus they get paid more, it's quite simple to be honest. As a side point, female tennis is farcical at times to be frank.. From a pure spectator point of view I've seen both multiple times in person and men's tennis is just better, game play wise.

 

[spring hall convert]

well he isnt going to win any PR awards

It was so extraordinarily clumsy, it almost seems designed to have caused offence. I don't think he'd be talking that rot to Serena Williams face.

but he isnt wrong is he?

Why specifically women though? Surely every other male tennis player (and two-bob tennis administrator) bar Federer or Nadal should 'go down on their knees every night.'

 

[KingstonSeagull]

I think that top women footballers should get paid 300k a week despite the fact that no one wants to watch it and it creates no money what so ever....

 

[spring hall convert]

Why don't the top female footballers get paid £300k a week?

The should have listened to Sepp - http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/jan/16/football.gender

 

[beorhthelm]

Why specifically women though? Surely every other male tennis player (and two-bob tennis administrators) bar Federer or Nadal should 'go down on their knees every night.'

possibly though difficult to judge. fact is half as many people watch the womens final as the mens. do they only watch for Federer and Nadal, or because its the mens? viewing and ticket sales follows a similar pattern throughout the tournaments, and thats rather the point of the discussion. if the WTA had to run and promote an independent tour, it would attract rather a lot less sponsorship and therefore prize money than the mens game. that is all that has been said here.

 

[KZNSeagull]

To be fair if you're not in the top 100 you stuggle

As do professional golfers/snookerists etc. No one is forcing them to turn pro. The best get rewarded handsomely already, is my point.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Men's tennis is popular partly because so many women are interested and that is due, in part, to the women's game being high profile and respected.

Tennis is one of the few sports that has an equal appeal to men and women. I think the women's game can be interesting to watch, there was a time when the men's game was dominated by the serve and the women's game had more rallies.

If I was at Wimbledon I'd rather watch a top ranking women's match rather than, say, the men's 16 seed playing the 17 seed - even though the tennis in the men's match would be of a higher standard.

 

[Albumen]

Wimbledon have shown the way, paying equal, and it doesn't seem to affect anyone. £1.8m each - that's probably enough.

http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/atoz/prize_money_and_finance.html

 

[Goldstone1976]

Wimbledon have shown the way, paying equal,

Wimbledon was the last grand slam to pay the genders the same for winning the title, doing so for the first time in 2007. The US Open did it first in, errrr, 1973. Wimbledon can't really be said to be "showing the way".....

 

[The_Viper]

I really hope he gets people demanding an apology, for him to come out with this:

"I'd like to apologize to women across the globe for the insensitive comment i made the other day. I failed to account for the historic oppression that women have faced, as well as their struggle to gain equal rights.

So as of today, in the spirit of true equality, i formally request that we remove gendered divisions. There should no longer be men's tennis or women's tennis; only tennis, and let skill decide the champions. Thank you."


Besides the wage gap is a huge myth in the first place.

 

[Albumen]

Wimbledon was the last grand slam to pay the genders the same for winning the title, doing so for the first time in 2007. The US Open did it first in, errrr, 1973. Wimbledon can't really be said to be "showing the way".....

Ah new balls please! Ignore me!

 

[dazzer6666]

As do professional golfers/snookerists etc. No one is forcing them to turn pro. The best get rewarded handsomely already, is my point.

True - you'd be around 150th in the golf prizemoney list (US PGA) to be on less than $100k - without any sponsorship etc - and the European tour is similar

 

[Sam Ovett]

If the men bring in greater viewing figures, greater ad revenue and sponsorship money, and play best of 5 compared to best of 3, it is more than fair they receive more money.

However both genders receive ridiculous amounts of money either way. It's like Jennifer Lawrence complaining Tom Cruise earns x million and she only earns y million. So unfair how does she live on only y million a movie?

 

[KZNSeagull]

True - you'd be around 150th in the golf prizemoney list (US PGA) to be on less than $100k - without any sponsorship etc - and the European tour is similar

It is now. If you look back at the prize money given in the major golf and tennis events, the money has gone up exponentially. You can make a good living now as an also ran which was not always the case.

Paul Way, Sussex golfer who won 3 European Tour events in the 80's and played in 2 Ryder Cups is a good example of how things were - last time I saw him he was playing in a Sussex organised Pro/Am at Haywards Heath in 1997, earning beer money basically. A golfer who won 3 Euro Tour events nowadays would not have to do that with the money they would make if they were sensible with it.