Paula Badosa defends pay gap in tennis due to difference in revenue

Spain’s tennis star Paula Badosa has defended the difference in pay rates between men’s and women’s tennis players. Over the years, there has been much discussion about whether it is right to have such a massive difference in pay rates between players who are playing in the same competition and under the same conditions.

It is for this reason that, in the recent past, the organisers of major competitions, such as all the Grand Slams, have announced that both men’s and women’s tennis players will receive similar amounts of prize money. That decision, however, received some backlash on social media as some fans highlighted that it's unfair to have equal pay in major events when matches of men’s tennis players can go up to five sets. In contrast, women’s matches conclude in three sets.

There has also been a notion that it is unfair for men’s tennis players to earn equal prize money as they generate more revenue and a far greater number of eyeballs. Former women’s world number two Padosa was recently quoted in a report where she defended the difference in pay rate between men’s and women’s tennis players. The 26-year-old was of the opinion that it is not wrong for men’s tennis players to earn more, especially after they generate far more revenue compared to women’s tennis players.

"I have always been very clear that we are what we generate, regardless of gender,” she said. “Are there differences? Maybe there are, but because men's tennis generates more than women's, just as in the world of fashion, for example, the opposite occurs between male and female models. In my sport, in fact, it is much more equal than in others, and it doesn't bother me that if the best tennis players generate more, they earn it in proportion. What I can tell you is that between us, although we don't all think the same in this sense, there is a real resonance that makes me very proud."