"The amount the ATP makes is much much much bigger": Mouratoglou on harsh reality of gender pay gap

Patrick Mouratoglou revealed the real reason behind the pay gap between the ATP and WTA explaining that it's simply a matter of profit which is vastly different.

Like many, Mouratoglou wants to see ATP and WTA players be paid the same amount for the same thing however it's very unlikely to materialize in the near future. The French coach pointed out that the majority of smaller events can't afford it because on average the WTA events bring in far less profit than the ATP ones.

Grand slams and Masters events earn enough to offer the same amount of prize money but smaller events simply can't:

"I think we all would like men and women to be paid the same. The thing that people need to understand is that you have two entities – you have the ATP and you have the WTA. ATP makes a certain amount in terms of business and WTA makes a certain amount. The amount the ATP makes is much much much bigger than the amount the WTA makes."

He further emphasized it through TV rights:

"The TV rights sometimes it’s on the same event it’s ten times more for men than for women; ten times more. Even if the WTA would want to pay women player the same amount as ATP would pay men player I don’t think they would be able to do it. They can’t afford it."

One way to change that according to him is simply to merge the ATP and WTA into one organisation:

"To consider that women should be paid the same percentage as men makes sense. And this would be an equal way to treat both. We can also say that it was in the plans to merge ATP and WTA. It would become possible to pay men and women the same amount and until they are merged I don’t think it will be possible because just WTA doesn’t have enough money to pay women as much as men."