Gender pay equality in Tennis: Gauff and Djokovic's US Open titles spark controversy

The 2023 US Open celebrated 50 years of equal pay in men's and women's tennis, a milestone that was later replicated across all Grand Slam tournaments but has yet to become universal throughout the year-round tour events.

At Flushing Meadows, Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic were the champions who received equal prize money. Statistics show that 'Nole' was paid $2,730 per minute on the court, while Gauff received $3,456 per minute. This difference is due to the fact that women play three sets, while men play five, creating a new gap.

The issue remains controversial, something that was discussed by Serena Williams a few years ago in relation to a potential match between her and Andy Murray, who held the world No. 1 rankings in women's and men's tennis at that time.

“For me, men’s tennis and women’s tennis are completely almost two separate sports. If I were to play Andy Murray, I would lose 6-0, 6-0 in like five to six minutes, maybe 10 minutes.”

“It’s just completely, completely different sport. The men are a lot faster than me and they serve harder, they hit harder. I love to play women’s. I only want to play against girls because I don’t want to be embarrassed,” she added.

While there is gender pay equality at Grand Slam events, disparities in prize money persist in the rest of the ATP and WTA tournaments. Murray recently commented on the situation:

“I always felt like when we’re competing at the same event on the same courts, you know, that we should be playing for, you know, for the same prize money,” said Murray.

“I’m totally behind equal prize money, and I think that it is brilliant that a lot of the tournaments on the tour that we have that, and I think that’s really, really positive.”

“I think it is difficult for it ever to become truly equal until the ATP and the WTA sort of actually combine and work together,” he said.

“I don’t know what the threshold for tournaments is, like to become a 500 on the ATP Tour, if the ATP will have their set of rules as to what levels they need to reach from a prize money perspective, and I’m sure the WTA have their own.

“I think for it ever to become truly equal, the WTA and the ATP are actually going to have to come together and work as one… both tours have different sponsors, different TV deals, and all of that stuff too.”