Novak Djokovic (L) and Serena Williams (R)
Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic engaged in a verbal dispute following Djokovic’s remarks about the gender pay gap in tennis. Djokovic had expressed his opinion that male players should receive higher pay than their female counterparts. Williams responded by challenging the World No. 1 with pointed questions.
Back in 2016, the 24-time Grand slam champion stated his opinion that the ATP should fight to have a bigger share of the profits from the tennis world as they attracted more spectators than matches on the WTA side.
“I think that our men’s tennis world, ATP world, should fight for more because the stats are showing that we have much more spectators on the men’s tennis matches. I think that’s one of the reasons why maybe we should get awarded more,” Novak Djokovic said, as quoted by the Press Association.
Williams responded to those comments, remarking that she would never think that her son deserves to make more money than her daughter in the hypothetical scenario that they both chose to pursue a career in tennis.
The American went on to question if Djokovic would be comfortable telling his daughter that her brother deserved to make more money than her just because he was a boy — another hypothetical scenario, considering the Serb only had a son at the time.
“If I have a daughter who plays tennis and also have a son that plays tennis, I wouldn’t say that my son deserves more because he is a man. If they both started at three years old I would say they both deserve the same amount of money,” Williams said, as quoted by the Mirror.
“I have been playing since the age of two and it would be shocking to say my son would deserve more than my daughter. It is irrelevant. [Djokovic] is entitled to his opinion but if he has a daughter—I think he has a son right now—he should talk to her and tell her how his son deserves more money because he is a boy,” she added.
Interestingly, following a lot of pushback from the tennis community for his statements, Novak Djokovic issued a clarification, emphasizing that he was fully in favor of both genders making the same amount of money.
His original comments, Djokovic maintained, were made when he was full of adrenaline right after one of his matches, meaning he could not articulate his feelings properly.
“I would never put a sex against another sex” – Serena Williams on Novak Djokovic’s gender pay gap comments
Serena Williams further expanded on her comments, stating that she would, personally, never pit men and women against each other.
While the former World No. 1 conceded that tennis has been lucky to witness a lot of great male players, she did not want fans to forget the fact that tennis was by far the biggest sport where women could prove themselves on the big stage.
“It all boils down to that. I would never put a sex against another sex. I think it’s unfair to compare, we have had so many great women champions and players who have brought such great vision to the sport. There have been great men players too, but women’s tennis is the biggest sport for women—period,” Serena Williams said.
