The equal pay row which has caused chaos in the world of tennis shows no sign of stopping.
Indian Wells tournament director Raymond Moore's comments are what have caused the issue to dominate the sport. "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". He also added that the WTA ride on "the coattails of the men".
Novak Djokovic added fans to the flames after winning at the Indian Wells tournament on Sunday. He applauded the women's game for fighting for equal pay before adding that the men's game should look for more money.
"They fought for what they deserve and they got it. On the other hand 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. Women should fight for what they think they deserve and we should fight for what we think we deserve."
Since making the comments, Djokovic has since apologised and clarified his comments. "I felt the need to speak about the fairer and better distribution of funds across the board - this was meant for both men and women. We all have to fight for what we deserve. This was never meant to be made into a fight between genders and differences in pay."
Posted by Novak Djokovic on Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Despite the clarification from the Serbian, Andy Murray feels the Djokovic's comments are out of line. Speaking ahead of the Miami Open, the Scot confirmed that he was in support of equal pay on both sides of the game.
"One of the things Novak said was that if women are selling more seats and tickets they should make more... The crowds are coming to watch the women as well. The whole thing just doesn’t stack up – it changes on a day-to”‘day basis depending on the matches you get."
"Men’s tennis has been lucky over the last nine or 10 years with the players they’ve had, the rivalries which have come out of that. That’s great but the whole of tennis should capitalise on that – not just the men’s game."
The Miami Open is one of the few tournaments (along with Indian Wells) that sees men and women compete at the same event outside of the Grand Slams.
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