Aryna Sabalenka says female athletes deserve to be paid the same as men: “I think women deserve to be paid the same as men. We sacrifice a lot. We work really hard. It’s not like we’re doing nothing & they pay us the same. We deserve to be paid the same. The level is probably…
(VIDEO) "We sacrifice a lot": Sabalenka voices support for equal pay for ATP and WTA players
WTASunday, 10 September 2023 at 16:04
Aryna Sabalenka has voiced her support for equal pay between ATP and WTA players after the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the US Open offering equal prize money.
If you were to say that the discussion around equal pay in tennis had been going on for a while, it would be an understatement. It was 1972 when Billie Jean King fought for equal prize money for male and female players at the New York major, which she won that year.
The tennis legend earned $15,000 less than that year's men's singles champion Ilie Nastase. This led her to threaten not to compete in 1973 if the paychecks were not balanced that year. She also had a meeting with tournament organizer Billy Talbert, where she mentioned that she had negotiated a sponsorship grant with the deodorant brand Ban.
Since then, equal pay has been implemented at all Grand Slam tournaments. However, the ATP Tour still offers significantly higher monetary prizes in comparison to the WTA Tour. For example, at the recent Cincinnati Open, the women's singles champion Coco Gauff earned $2,788,468.
While this is still a substantial sum, it is almost 4 million dollars less than the $6,600,000 that the men's singles champion Novak Djokovic earned. Following Gauff's monumental victory at the US Open this weekend, the 19-year-old thanked King for achieving equal pay at the tournament 50 years ago.
Sabalenka voices her opinion on equal pay
Meanwhile, second seed Sabalenka, who was this year's runner-up at Flushing Meadows, also voiced her support for equal pay on the ATP and WTA Tours.
"I think women deserve to be paid the same as men. We sacrifice a lot. We work really hard. It’s not like we’re doing nothing and they pay us the same. We deserve to be paid the same. The level is probably different. Men are stronger, but we are still putting a lot of work in. I think we deserve to be paid the same," she said.
The WTA has approved a plan to achieve pay equity at all WTA 1000 and 500 combined events by 2027 and single-week WTA 1000 and 500 events by 2033.
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