Serena Williams – “I Shouldn’t Get Paid Less Because of My Sex”

Published 12/13/2019, 11:22 AM EST

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The Grand Slam events in tennis remunerate the ATP and WTA players equally whereas other tournaments do not. The American legend Serena Williams raised her voice once again on pay disparity. According to her, there’s no point in rewarding the women lesser than the male counterparts just because of their sex. 

“I feel like we all deserve what we deserve,” said Serena Williams. “I deserve to get paid the same amount. I don’t deserve less ’cause I have boobs and they don’t. That’s definitely not the case. I worked just as hard since I was three. I think they worked hard since they were three, four, two, whatever the case is.”

Serena Williams and all other WTA women work as hard as ATP men and they transparently deserve equal pay. “Actually I have a picture when I’m on the court and I’m in a stroller, so even longer than that. I definitely know my whole life has been dedicated to being a top athlete, and I shouldn’t get paid less because of my sex,” she continued.

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Many professionals on the tour believe that Serena doesn’t spend on the training courts and she naturally produces genius tennis on the professional courts. Hitting back to all these presumptions which people have, Williams cleared out the air and she clarified that success doesn’t come overnight.

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“A lot of players or a lot of coaches tell me that Serena is so lucky. She doesn’t train. She just shows up and wins matches. God, if I could do that, I would. Oh, I would do it. (Laughter.) Unfortunately, that’s not the case. I think the older you get, the more fit you have to get to continue competing. I’m excited about it because I love being fit,” World Number ten Williams said.

She’s one of the most meticulous players which the sport of tennis has ever had. She contemplates on every single point she plays and selflessly puts efforts on the practice courts.

This year Serena participated in nine WTA events and completed just four of them, which are all the four Grand Slam events. She played at Indian Wells, Miami, Rome, Toronto, and Cincinnati but did not complete those events. 

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In the first half of the season Serena Williams was tackling with a sore knee and then she suffered back spasms during the Toronto finals.  After the US Open finals, Williams called off her 2019 season.

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Mahalakshmi Murali

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Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.
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