The fight for equal work and equal pay affects everyone. This matter significantly affects the sporting world too. And in tennis, Venus Williams has raised her voice the loudest to make it a reality. And the recent development of CVC Capital Partners investing in the WTA with a $150 million deal is huge. It will help raise the WTA profile and prize money. However, along with the equal pay day celebration the former coach of her sister, Serena Williams, seems to think otherwise. Patrick Mouratoglou presented his views methodically and gave a peek into the dimming reality of the tennis realm.

The fight has been long and arduous and though some tournaments have shown the initiative of implementing equal prize money for both male and female players, not everyone is doing it. Is conscious economic discrimination the only reason or is some other factor playing a role?

Former coach of Serena Williams, Patrick Mouratoglou on the battle for equal money for WTA and ATP players 

The former coach of Serena Williams is quite renowned for breaking down the technicalities of the tennis realm. Be it some players’ gaming style or a prevailing issue, he has been expressive. And this time, he chose to talk about equal pay right after the celebration of equal pay day.

Through his Instagram story, he addressed one of the most debatable topics of tennis of equal pay. He started with, “I think we all would like men and women to be paid the same.” However, he has got some points to prove why that won’t be possible. Talking about WTA and ATP, he said, “ATP makes a certain amount in terms of business, and WTA makes a certain amount.”

Continuing, he said, “The amount that the ATP makes is much, much much bigger than the amount that WTA makes. The TV rights sometimes, on the same event, it’s ten times more for men than for women.” Coming to the point, he stated, “Even if WTA would want to pay women players, the same amount as ATP would pay men players, I don’t think they would be able to do it. They can’t afford it.” 

He agreed that a situation where women are paid equally to men would be ideal. And he also talked about the WTA and ATP merging plans. However, he noted, “Until they are merged, I don’t think it would be possible.” 

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Now the point he has given is obviously valid and there is not a speck of unreliability in it. But this same fact speaks for itself. WTA not being able to afford to pay its players equally because it does not have that many earnings is an issue in itself. The inability of WTA to secure the same amount in a deal as ATP shows the engraved gender conventional norms. And this eventually is affecting the female players too.

A career-long fight of Venus Williams for equal pay 

The matter of equal pay is not a point of contention, it is a chain. So, one point leads to another. And that is why legendary tennis players like Venus Williams have been fighting for it for years.

And it was because of her that the first major to approve equal pay for both male and female players was Wimbledon. Even after that, her continuous fight led all majors to equalize the pay for both genders. Her contribution is remarkable and therefore, it also became one of the reasons for tennis fans to show their discontent while the US Open commemorated 50 years of WTA.

Moreover, WTA has recently bagged a $150 million dollar private equity investment. And it is yet another step toward equal pay.

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However, the fight continues as there are still a lot of tournaments that do not sanction this. For example, the ATP finals pay male players significantly more than female ones. Last year’s difference was staggering where ATP players got $14.75 million against WTA players who only got $5 million. What is your point of view regarding this issue? Do you think not playing a five-set match is a criterion for WTA players to be paid lesser than their male counterparts? Let us know in the comments below.