Here’s why women in tennis don’t have equal pay
Serena Williams has put the pay debate back on the agenda at the Australian Open. But, as SAM GROTH writes, forget about how many sets are played or how long is spent on the court. This is the real story behind equal pay.
Serena Williams has used her Australian Open third-round victory as a platform to renew calls for equality on multiple fronts.
Buoyed by a ruthless 6-2 6-1 demolition of devastated Dayana Yastremska, Williams again called for prizemoney parity and gender equality.
“Yeah, well, we still are fighting for equal prize money at all events across the board,” she said.
“I think that's something that we're going to continue to do, continue to fight for."
Roger Federer was also drawn into the debate after his Aus Open exit on Sunday night.
"They deserve it. They also deserve it on the other tour, on the WTA Tour," he said. "I know they're lagging a little bit.
"That would be nice to see it going up."If we can help, great. Sometimes maybe the men's game is a bit more popular."
Sam Groth wrote the below column in July 2018, which goes into details about his thoughts on the pay debate.
There are few certainties in tennis, but the age-old debate about equal pay rearing its ugly head at least once a season is one we can always depend on.
I’m so sick of hearing people make uninformed arguments about something they clearly have very little knowledge or understanding of. It’s time to clarify some things.
This isn’t a column to argue that women don’t deserve equal pay — that is not what I believe and I can’t stress that enough. What I want to do is peel back some layers and explain some of the reasons behind female players not always being paid the same without being called sexist.
There are so many misconceptions.
There’s the age-old “men play five sets and women play three” argument and worse still, the “men spend more time on court than women” debate. They’re both irrelevant.
Firstly men only play five sets at grand slam events — at every other tournament we all — men and women — play best of three. Secondly, on a number of occasions women’s finalists have spent more time on court throughout the tournament than their male counterparts.
Who cares about time on court? Only a few journalists and people whose interest in tennis is restricted to Grand Slams.
So forget about that and move on from making this a battle of the sexes and let’s talk about what is happening behind the scenes to create this situation.
I’m not here to criticise individual players — far from it. It’s the tours I have in my sights.
Men’s and women’s tennis are two separate businesses run by separate governing bodies — the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). There is not one group actively deciding that men will do one thing and win one amount and women something else.
(There is the International Tennis Federation as well, but with the Grand Slams governing themselves, it’s almost pointless mentioning them.)
Fact of the matter is prizemoney comes from revenue generated by both governing bodies.
Money made by the ATP goes back into their players and their events — same deal on the women’s side. The disparity, quite simply, comes from one business model working better than another right now.
The ATP has been fortunate to enjoy a golden era in the last 15 years. What Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have done for the sport is unbelievable. Second to that they have had the benefit of Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka shaking things up.
It’s been phenomenal if perhaps a little lucky. But they haven’t relied on that luck. The ATP has worked tirelessly to build up its next gen of superstars. They have invested significant sums into their lower level tournaments to ensure growth.
On the women’s side, while the WTA has lacked similar rivalries, they haven’t done enough to push their next group of stars.
Everything seems to operate around one name — Serena Williams.
Even when she took time out to become a mum all people were talking about was players “having a chance to succeed because Serena isn’t there”. It was the same when Maria Sharapova came back from a drug ban, it was all about her — not talent coming through the ranks and building their profiles.
That’s not how you build your sport.
There is so much talent in women’s tennis — we just don’t hear enough about them on a regular basis.
The finger of blame must be pointed at the WTA.
Leverage your athletes, create more drawcard names and sponsorships and revenue will follow. They’re simply not doing this.
Look at this year’s Australian Open; to have world No. 1 Simona Halep playing the final without a sponsor is indicative of how imbalanced things are.
I can’t imagine that happening in any other sport.
If the WTA was generating cash like the ATP then there wouldn’t be a debate about prizemoney.
And that’s exactly why the ATP wants to remain separate. They’re doing well, they don’t need association. If they combined revenue would have to be split, and what business in any other industry would agree to that?
And doesn’t the notion of the men’s tour assisting the women’s tour defeat the object of a level playing field?
The fact is, the women’s game is more than capable of standing on its own feet, and generating as much income, and therefore prizemoney as the men’s game.
Remember the Navratilova, Seles and Graf era? In the Australian Open finals of 1987 (when Navratilova lost to Mandlikova) and 1988 (when Graf won) women were paid 111 per cent and 105 per cent of the men. Non-tennis fans knew their names, took an interest in their form, and knew their rivalries, and it translated into ticket sales. How many female players can you say the same about today?
That was a golden era of women’s tennis, and I have no doubt there will be another one in the future, but it’s hard to see what the WTA is doing to encourage that.
But while difference in prize money comes down to revenue generated by the governing body, there are other aspects of the sport that generates mass confusion.
Men’s and women’s tennis operate under different levels and points structures so if you ever want to get to a point where things are equal, migrating to the same points and ranking systems would be a start.
For example the Italian Open in Rome is a men’s top tier event and women’s third tier. The general public probably won’t know this so if the winner of one is getting $1.4 million and the other $800,000 it’s easy to see where the where the misconception that they’re not being paid equally comes from.
But the overriding obstacle to equal pay for male and female players is always going to be revenue.
And that means the WTA need to stop riding the Serena wave and nurture their pool of talent before it’s too late.
The ATP may not continue to succeed as it has post Rafa, Federer and Co, but the fact is, they’ve done a hell of a lot more than the WTA to give themselves the best possible chance.
Sam Groth is an Australian former world number 53 tennis player.
Originally published as Here’s why women in tennis don’t have equal pay