Former player brings up Serena Williams’ easy wins to argue about equal pay as he thinks ‘men work harder than women’
A former player from Russia thinks male players work three times harder than female players in Grand Slam events so they should earn less.
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Serena Williams (Image via X)
Former player Nikolay Davydenko sparked the equal pay debate when he was asked in an interview about his stance on the subject. He thinks female players should earn equal prize money only in 250 or 500 events but not in Grand Slams as male players have to play best-of-five sets.
All four Grand Slam tournaments give equal prize money to men and women players. The former World No.3, who earned $16,186,480 in his tennis career, thinks Serena Williams has 23 Grand Slam singles titles just because she did not have to play five-set matches.
But when you talk about Grand Slam tournaments…you don’t play five-set matches. Serena Williams won the Grand Slams, losing only 10 games in the tournament. She won 6–0, 6–1, 6–2 without even breaking a sweat or feeling stressed. Male tennis players work three times harder than female tennis players, especially in Grand Slam tournaments. So it’s unfair to pay them equally.
Nikolay Davydenko told Match TV
Davydenko’s comments did not go down well with the fans as they argued that female players work hard just as much as male players as their body allows. Some schooled him for his comments on Williams, saying he perhaps would have won Majors had he worked harder like her, while others claimed he didn’t attract the crowd like some women did so he should’ve earned less.
Nikolay Davydenko blasts Nick Kyrgios for his comments on Jannik Sinner
In that same interview, Nikolay Davydenko was asked about the doping controversy around Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek. Davydenko downplayed arguments that a small dose of a drug enhances players’ performances.
He also backed Sinner for his performances, criticizing Nick Kyrgios for his claims that Sinner gave his best this season just because he consumed anabolic steroid clostebol.
Yes, Nick always shouts, he is a showman. He talks nonsense on and off the court and will continue to do so. We will hear him more than once.
Nikolay Davydenko said
Since the report of Sinner and Swiatek’s cases was published, Kyrgios, who has been on the sidelines for almost two years, has been blaming the two top players for failing the drug test. Kyrgios is set to be back on tour next year at the Brisbane International before participating in the Australian Open.
If the Aussie doesn’t deal with any more injury problems, he could face Sinner in the near future and the tennis world is waiting for that contest.
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Gouri Das
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