Equal Pay - Why The Fuss?

Tennis has been in the news a lot this year and we are still in March. 

It started at the Australian Open when the BBC and BuzzFeed made reports of match fixing which had been taking place over a number of years.  That was already well known but it was suggested that the Tennis Integrity Unit had not been taking the accusations seriously enough, did not investigate properly and the unit was too small to be effective, mainly comprising of a few part time senior ex policeman.  ATP Chief Chris Kermoode refuted this claim and promised robust actions.  However, in the last week, the Italian Authorities claim they have evidence of top 20 tennis players being involved in match fixing and accused the tennis authorities of not doing enough to bring these players to justice.

If that was not bad enough, Maria Sharapova announced to the world not her retirement which some journalists had predicted, but that she failed a drug test for meldonium which was put on the banned WADA list at the start of 2016.  What made this story curious was the fact that Maria explained she had been taking the substance for ten years initially to offset conditions that ran in the family such as heart trouble and diabetes; although it appears Maria’s conditions were ongoing if she felt the need to keep taking it for such a long period.  There has been a spate of positive tests for meldonium in the last month so Maria is now in a very difficult situation and a ban is inevitable, a blow to the WTA as Maria is their most marketable player.

That being said, the hot topic I want to focus on is the recurring issue of equal prize money which is reared its ugly head again.  Raymond Moore was forced to resign as Chief Executive Officer of the Indian Wells tournament after what seemed to be the most bizarre comments I have heard from a senior person in sports for some time.  We have seen the comments but here it is again “In my next lifetime when I come back I want to be someone in the WTA, because they ride on the coattails of the men. They don't make any decisions and they are lucky. They are very, very lucky.

“If I was a lady player, I'd go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport. They really have.” In colloquial terms, that really is a quote and a half, the sort of stuff journalists dream about having a field day over, and for any detractors to jump on right away with glee.  Perhaps Raymond Moore had been drinking, the desert heat got to him or he had some sort of strange death wish at that particular moment.  Those comments are clearly long held views and for some reason decided to make them known to the public in a press conference.  We also know since the storm didn’t pass very well for him, after the negative news reporting, inevitable social media uproar and statements by Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and the WTA amongst others, Raymond Moore handed in his resignation as Chief Executive Officer to owner of the tournament and Oracle founder Larry Ellison. 

One thing that I fail to understand after all these years is why equal pay still exorcises the minds of so many people?  Equal pay has been around for some time at grand slam level and Wimbledon was the last of the majors to introduce it in 2007; before that the US Open and Australian Open had equal pay for some time.  Let us look at the context as well; in the late 1990s and early 2000s, women's tennis was doing very well as a product.  The stars were as well known as the top men and were putting “bums on seats” in tournaments throughout the world.  There were many great stories and rivalries; Venus v Serena, Capriati vs Serena, Davenport v Hingis, Hingis v Venus, Davenport v Venus.  Then we had Henin v Clijsters, Mauresmo v Henin, the Russians like Dementieva, Sharapova and Kuznetsova joined the party; there were rivalries and high level tennis everywhere so it seemed logical there should be equal pay.  The argument I often hear is that men play longer matches and more sets and so should get more money.  However, from what I have always understood, equal pay reflected that as a product attracting sponsorship and high television ratings, the women's game was doing just as well as the men's game at the period of time.

Now, the irony is this.  As far as I can tell, the reason why this has come up now is the level of women's tennis has no doubt dropped from the heights of 1999 to 2007.  The number 1 ranking changed a handful of times between players who never went on to win a major tournament.  Before 2008, all players who were number 1 won more than one grand slam tournament in their careers (bar Clijsters who won multiple majors on her return in 2009).  Putting injuries aside, Serena Williams has been able to dominate the tour in a way she didn’t in the early to mid-2000s.  If Serena stayed injury free she may have done so but the competition was very fierce regardless.   We have also seen since 2010 a handful of players win grand slam tournaments for the first time at the age of 29 plus which would have been unheard of ten years ago; the latest being Flavia Pennetta who won the US Open at the age of 33 in 2015. 

Therefore, I get the angst that some people may be feeling that women’s tennis is not at a current level deserving of equal pay.  I am sure however that this cannot be the only equation that should be looked at when determining equal pay.  There are still some very good women players around today and great matches.  For instance the Australian Open final between Angelique Kerber and Serena Williams was a compelling match, with both players making more winners than errors; the match was universally acclaimed with good ratings, and let's be frank far better than the drab match between Murray and Djokovic which like groundhog day continue to give us dull Australian Open final matches year on year.

Also, it was ludicrous for Raymond Moore to bring Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal into his “rant”.  If the women players are to thank anyone, it should be Billie Jean King, Gladys Heldman, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Rosie Casals and the other pioneers from the early 1970s who helped set up the WTA tour and made it a big hit with public and sponsors.  I don’t think they need to get on their knees but today’s players are well aware of the sacrifices made by those women.  What makes Raymond Moore’s rant more amusing is the fact he didn’t mention the dominant number 1 player Novak Djokovic about carrying the sport, perhaps that’s why Djokovic took it upon himself to say men should fight for more (extra amusement here) and receive more money, potentially jeopardising good relations with the WTA players and organisers. 

One thing I would question Djokovic on is his comments that men matches get more spectators.  I watch a lot of tournaments and the stands in ATP events are often half empty except for finals day; I see no difference between men and women’s tournaments.  Scheduling wise, women can get a raw deal in the big events, if they schedule a match after a men's match, if it is a long match between two top players, people are satisfied and might go home after a long day, I go to many tournaments, and it can be a long day at tennis events.  This is even more pronounced at the US Open and Australian Open where women matches often start 11pm at night after a men's match, it is inevitable there will be fewer spectators. 

No doubt Raymond Moore’s supporters will point to political correctness accounting for his resignation.  However, the reason they would cite that is because they have been missing the point of equal pay from day one so it will not change now. 

As a tennis fan, one thing I would like to see is the WTA and ITF consider playing best of five set finals at grand slam level.  The players are fit enough to do that and should be mentally ready for such a challenge, I wrote an article about this in 2013 and this may be one way to placate some of the doubters amongst certain fans and some sections of tennis establishment, plus I think it will be a great spectacle.  Women played best of five set finals at the end of year championships in New York from 1984 to 1998 so should definitely be revived as a concept.