Rafael Nadal says leading female players deserve to win more prizemoney than their male counterparts, provided they draw greater ticket sales than the men.
Having breezed through to his 11th Australian Open quarter-final with a 6-0, 6-1, 7-6 win over Tomas Berdych, Nadal was asked about comments from Serena Williams who is pushing for equal pay for men and women at all tournaments. Men and women already earn equal prizemoney at the four grand slams.
Diplomatic: Rafael Nadal refused to be drawn deep on the debate over equal prizemoney for male and female players.Credit:AP
Nadal was reluctant to buy into issues of gender, but suggested that he would have no problem if women were to earn more than men.
“I don't know why you are trying all the time to create these kind of stories on this thing. As you know, I love women's tennis,” Nadal said.
“I feel that they can win as much as they want. Is not about equal or not equal prizemoney. I don't care if they win more than us. That's the real thing. If they sell more tickets, they deserve to more than us [male players]. That's very easy to understand. It's not about being male or women. Doesn't matter. We are the same.”
Subsequently questioned about whether the men’s ATP Tour and women’s WTA tour should be integrated to make a stronger product, Nadal stressed that he didn’t have enough information.
“I don't know. I don't have the whole information to know if that stronger product or not stronger product. Who knows? You need to make an analysis,” the 17-time grand slam champion said.
“I am not the right person to answer that because I don't have the whole information. You have to ask the tournament organisers. You have to ask the ATP. You have to ask the ITF. You have to ask the WTA. They have much more information than what I have.
"[It is] a very [sensitive] thing today in this world talking about men or women. At this moment you even can't have an opinion, because anything that you say is going against you. I will not be the one that I going to tell you anything in this moment, you know?”
Having paid tribute to women’s tennis trailblazer Billie Jean King, Williams on Saturday renewed calls for men and women to get equal prize money, suggesting that other leading men should follow the path set by Andy Murray in fighting for equality.
Fighting for the future: Serena Williams, a leading advocate for equal gender prizemoney at all tournaments, poses with junior Australian tennis players at Melbourne Park.Credit:AAP
“I think Andy has been really vocal about everyone being treated equally. Like I said the other day, in order for change to really be made, men and women have to work together, they have to have the same message, they have to support each other. As many people as we can get to support us, that's what it's going to take,” 23-time major winner Williams said.
“We still are fighting for equal prize money at all events across the board. I think that's something that we're going to continue to do, continue to fight for. I feel like with my platform, the things I do, the different boards that I sit on, we really talk about equality, gender equality, role equality, pay equality, how important that is.
"Bringing that into tennis, as well, is something that's super important. The only way to do it is to talk about it and to be open about it, have these conversations that aren't necessarily comfortable. As I always say, we have to have these uncomfortable conversations so we can start just fighting for having equality throughout.”
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