Rafael Nadal On Why Higher Prize Money For Men's Tennis Is Justified

Rafael Nadal joined Novak Djokovic in claiming that the men’s tennis players deserve more prize money as they garner larger crowds and bring in more television viewership.

The Spaniard, who recently claimed his 11th French Open title at Roland Garros, entered into the controversial debate that has raged on for more than a few years.

After a lot of wrangling, a number of ATP Tour events and all four Grand Slams now offer equal prize money to both the men’s and the women’s singles champions. It was a move that was welcomed by current and former players from the ATP and WTA tours.

Djokovic praised the women players for fighting for a larger slice of the prize money pie and achieving their target. He is certain that they deserve everything they are getting, but called on the men’s tennis players to fight for what they deserve. The Serb claimed that the men should get paid more as they bring in more spectators.

“I applaud them for that, I honestly do. 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,” Djokovic said, as quoted on Yahoo Sports.

“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.”

Nadal shares his long-time rival’s view and believes it is a comparison that should not be made. The Spaniard referenced the fashion industry where the female models are said to earn more than their male counterparts owing to their popularity across the globe.

The 17-time men’s singles Grand Slam champion believes that it should be a norm in tennis as well as the men’s matches are more popular than the women’s. Despite equal pay having a number of supporters, the debate is likely to continue as the game grows.

“It’s a comparison we shouldn’t even make. Female models earn more than male models and nobody says anything. Why? Because they have a larger following. In tennis too, who gathers a larger audience earns more,” Nadal said.

However, despite Nadal's and Djokovic’s statements holding true, in the larger picture there have been a number of instances when the women’s singles final at a Grand Slam attracted more viewers than the men’s final.

According to Sports Media Watch, the women’s singles final at the U.S. Open garnered more viewers than the men’s singles final between 2010-14. And four out of the five finals involved either Nadal, Djokovic or Andy Murray.

In 2015, according to statistics compiled by BBC Sport, the ATP drew 973 million viewers in comparison to 395 million viewers for the WTA Tour, both excluding the four Grand Slam events.