While US Open recently celebrated 50 years of equal pay in the history of the tournament, former Russian tennis ace Maria Sharapova has claimed that there is still a huge gender pay gap in the sport. Sharapova has claimed that only 15-20 percent of the tour has implemented equal play in tennis while the rest have still a long way to catch up.
Sharapova went on a rant as she slammed the WTA for not having media rights. The five-time Grand Slam winner has claimed that many people don’t even know about the majority of WTA tournaments.
“Yes, 15-20 percent of the tour is equal. But where’s the rest of the 80 percent? It’s not even close to being equal. Unfortunately, those events don’t have the biggest media rights, they don’t have the visibility. So that subject of equality doesn’t even get a platform because not too many people know internationally that these tournaments exist,” said Sharapova at the Unmatched Gender Equity Sports Conference (via Tennis Canada).
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Notably, Maria Sharapova held the title of the world’s highest-paid female athlete for 11 years in a row. She ended her career with $39 million in prize money which was third on the WTA Tour all-time list. But Sharapova earned a chunk of her net worth money off the court.
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