Former French tennis player Marion Bartoli hasharshly replied to the words released a few weeks ago by Nikolay Davydenko about equal prize money between women's and men's tennis.
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The former Russian tennis player had spoken of a clear injustice that in the Slams men and women earn the same sums. The former world number 3 has in fact stated that in the ATP 250, 500, 1000 category tournaments it is right that there is equal prize money between men and women. But when it comes to Grand Slam tournaments women never play five-set matches.
"For example, Serena Williams has won certain Grand Slam tournaments throughout her career, losing only 10 games during the entire tournament. Male tennis players work three times harder than female tennis players in these types of tournaments. It is therefore unfair to pay them the same amount," analyzed the Russian.
The former Wimbledon champion responded bluntly to Davydenko on the topic, drawing a parallel between Serena herself and Roger Federer, during the latest episode of Les Grandes Gueules du Sport on RMC Sports.
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"When Federer won Wimbledon in 2017 without losing a single set during the entire tournament, the hourly rate on the court must have been more or less the same as Serena Williams during her Slam victories. There are still women's matches that last more than four hours.
There have been many extremely long matches in women's tennis and there have been extremely short matches in men's tennis as well. Davydenko is completely wrong, from start to finish. And the examples he cites are absolutely ridiculous," she explained.
This is a delicate topic, but I basically agree with Bartoli's words. It is clear that even in the Slams - even if there is a difference in sets - there must be equal prize money for both the men's singles and the women's singles: it is not just a matter of analyzing the physical effort performed by the tennis players in these two weeks, but also ensuring equality to an event that lasts fortnight for everyone and that must be uniform for both the men's and women's singles.
