Historically, there has been inequality between men and women in sports regarding the wage gap, media coverage, and respect.
Although this perception has altered over time, and many women are today thought of as “legends” in their sports, female players continue to be granted smaller prizes and receive less time in the spotlight than their male peers.
Despite this, tennis is considered one of those sports that are more equal than others in terms of male vs. female dynamics.
We find more than a few women household names on the tennis court, and…
The prize money for men and women at every Grand Slam has been equal since 2007.
But only because the prize money is the same doesn’t mean those female tennis players are generally paid the same.
In this article we’ll explain why and try to answer should it really be like that.
Do Female Tennis Players Get Paid the Same?
Canadian tennis player Emma Raducanu was awarded $2.5 million for winning the 2021 U.S. Open women’s singles title. Men’s singles champion Daniil Medvedev was also given $2.5 million.
The U.S. Open was actually the first of the four Grand Slam tournaments to give out prizes of equal value in 1973.
The Australian Open didn’t come along until 2001, after many years of waiting. The French Open contributed equally to the overall rewards in 2006 and the Grand Slam tournament with the most history, Wimbledon, came next in 2007.
This certainly qualifies as an unusual occurrence in the world of sports.
The fact of the matter is that winning a Grand Slam tournament awards the same amount of prize money to both male and female competitors, making tennis the only major sport in which this is the case.
But! Even though tennis has the lowest gender pay gap in sports, men are still earning 34.32% more than women. This means that, generally, female tennis players don’t get paid the same.
Female tennis players are the top-paid female athletes in the world, though. In fact, two years ago, the only three women that cracked the top 100 of the world’s highest-paid athletes were tennis players.
In 2022, Naomi Osaka leads the top ten with $57 million, with the presence of a gymnast and a WNBA player.
For comparison, NBA players get approximately $240,000 for winning the Finals, while their WNBA peers only take home roughly $11,000.
Should Female Tennis Players Be Paid the Same?
Of course, some still argue that female tennis players don’t deserve equal prize money. Let’s examine the situation.
1. Men play much longer than women.
Women play a maximum of 3 sets, while men play a maximum of 5.
2. On average, men sell more tickets and thus make more sports revenue.
Except for Serena Williams then and Naomi Osaka now, how many genuine top draw female tennis players are there?
The ATP, on the other hand, has plenty of top-class players. We’re talking the likes of D. Medvedev, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djoković, A. Zverev, C. Ruud, Federer… you name it.
These players attract more fans, sell more tickets, and make more money for the tennis than women.
Even players like Nick Kygrios, Grigor Dimitrov, Marin Cilic, and Kevin Anderson could probably attract more numbers than most woman players.
3. The quality of men’s games is much better than that of female’s games.
The rivalries, along with the power, pace, aggression, and intensity in the men’s games, are much greater, and as a result, the quality of the men’s games is also much greater than that of women’s games.
So, no… women should not be paid equal to men in tennis or most other sports.
Offensive? Maybe, but it’s the reality.
Female Tennis is Getting More and More Popular
According to ESPN data, the U.S. Open women’s championships in 2021 drew an average of 2.44 million viewers, surpassing the audience for the men’s match and featuring a historic contest between winner Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez.
Shocking? Well, times are really changing.
The broadcast starring the two young athletes attracted 3.4 million viewers at its peak, marking ESPN’s highest peak of the competition and a rise of more than 37% from the previous year when Naomi Osaka competed against Victoria Azarenka.
Since ESPN started broadcasting the U.S. Open, it set records for being the most-watched women’s final match without Serena Williams.
Comparatively, Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic’s U.S. Open match averaged 2.05 million viewers, representing a 17 percent drop in viewers from the women’s championship match.
These statistics demonstrate how popular women’s sports remain among Americans. Top female athletes have argued for complete equality with their male counterparts using the strong public interest.
Can Female Tennis Players Compete with Men?
When it comes to sports, no woman in the world is competitive with any top-rated male athlete in any sport except shooting. Shooting is the only NCAA sport where men and women compete against each other.
The all-time world records for women in every other sport are on par with those set by male high school athletes. In other words, roughly half the time, high school boys will have a better record, and roughly half the time, the all-time best record by a woman in world history will be better.
Any female world record is unlikely even to come close to the best male college record.
Man vs. Women Matches
Bobby Riggs’ 1973 match against Margaret Court in tennis serves as an illustration (then the top female tennis player in the world). He won 6-2, 6-1.
From 1941 to 1947, Riggs dominated the men’s tennis world. At the time of the match, he had been out of competitive tennis for 22 years after retiring in 1951.
Later, Riggs was defeated by Billie Jean King, the second-ranked woman at the time. And it’s probably not unusual. The best male athletes in the world who have been retired for at least 20 years and are more likely to be collecting social security checks than participating in competitive sports are likely on par with the best female athletes in the world.
Sisters Serena and Venus Williams boasted that they could defeat any man outside the top 200 during the 1998 Australian Open. Karsten Braasch accepted the challenge. The No. 203 player was from Germany (his highest ranking was No. 38).
Braasch played a bit of golf in the morning, drank a few beers, and smoked a few cigarettes before facing off against the Williams sisters for a set each, one after the other.
Venus lost to him 6-2, and he beat Serena 6-1. Later, Serena stated: “I had no idea it would be so challenging. I made shots that would have won on the women’s tour, and he easily dealt with them.”
Once you graduate high school, there is no comparison between men and women in sports. They must provide special “protected” classes for women for this reason.
There wouldn’t be any women playing sports if the best athlete always made the team.
Female vs. Male Player Salary In Other Sports
The pay gap between men and women in basketball is the largest in sports, standing at an astounding 8,567 percent.
Basketball is the sport where this disparity is most pronounced; men earn 8,567 percent more than women in basketball. The average salary for a player in the NBA is $10,225,000, while the average salary for a player in the women’s equivalent league is only $118,000.
When it comes to basketball, pay is entirely dependent on league revenue; however, because men’s basketball attracts a larger audience, they receive a larger percentage of the overall pie.
The counterargument is that if more resources were invested in women’s basketball, it would help to close the wage gap between men and women.
Funding and salaries for female athletes fall short on both sides of the Atlantic, with the US gender pay gap at $340,000 and the UK at an astounding £1.9 million, respectively.
If men in the Premier League played every minute of a regular season, they would earn £772 per minute, while women in the FA Women’s Super League only made £16.72 per minute.
This means that male soccer players in the UK earn 7307% more than females.
After Manchester City spent £100 million to secure him, Jack Grealish recently made history as one of the most expensive players in English soccer. And what about women?
Pernille Harder is the most expensive player in women’s soccer history, with Chelsea paying Wolfsburg £250,000.
The disparity in the numbers demonstrates the massive difference in the amount invested in male and female games.
