We're sure Serena Williams' eyebrows were through the roof... while Martina Navratilova has already voiced her disapproval.
By way of some background; tennis star Novak Djokovic did wonders for the gender pay gap yesterday by suggesting that male tennis players get paid more money than women tennis players. He didn't just make the comments out of the blue, rather he was responding to comments made by the Indian Wells tournament director, Raymond Moore. And some of his comments went a bit like this: "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.”
According to Independent.co.uk: "Speaking in the wake of claims by the tournament director at Indian Wells that women’s tennis was 'riding on the coat-tails' of the men’s game and that the leading female players were 'very, very lucky' to be competing in the current era, Djokovic said that men should be paid more than women because the public were more interested in their matches."
To be fair to him, Novak initially did say he found the director's comments "politically incorrect" and female players deserved "respect and admiration" - before adding the bit about men getting paid more: "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."
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Seemingly it's an opinion shared by fellow male players. In Grand Slams, male players engage in the best-of-five sets, while women play the best-of-three, and, therefore, shouldn't be entitled to the same money.
Tennis legend Navratilova was quick to respond to Novak's view, saying: "Novak Djokovic, as much as I love him, clearly doesn’t understand why, when women and men play in combined tournaments, they must be paid equally. I thought we settled that issue years ago.” Regarding the director's comments, she added: "We have made it this far on our own, without help from male players, and will continue to do so in the future."
In response to Moore's initial comments, which he's since apologised for, Serena Williams said: "We, as women, have come a long way,” she said. “We shouldn’t have to drop to our knees at any point.
