Tennis prize cash row heats up earlier than US Open as Coco Gauff opponent speaks out

A row over the disparity in prize cash for women and men in tennis continues to rumble on forward of the US Open subsequent week. The last Grand Slam of the 12 months can absolve itself of any criticism over the topic because it has provided out equal prize cash for the previous 50 years.

But that’s not the norm in elite tennis, as was completely demonstrated on the Cincinnati Open final weekend. Novak Djokovic walked away with a cheque for £796,800 after he got here from behind to beat World No 1 Carlos Alcaraz 5-7, 7-6, 7-6 in an exhilarating males’s last.

American Coco Gauff delighted the house crowd by successful the ladies’s singles last with 6-3, 6-4 victory over Karolina Muchova, however the 19-year-old’s successful prize pot of round £355,000 was lower than half of that loved by Djokovic.

The gender pay hole in prize cash sparked contrasting views on social media, with some slamming the disparity whereas others defended the figures by arguing that extra folks watch the lads’s recreation and produce extra income into the game.

Now Gauff’s defeated opponent Muchova, who collected £210,500 as runner-up – lower than half of what Alcaraz obtained for a similar achievement within the males’s singles – has had her say on the matter.

Speaking to Vogue, she stated: “It is one thing that I can not affect from my place. I perceive that the organizers have signed contracts and new tv rights.

“For a long time, men’s tennis was considered more attractive, but lately, it seems to me that women’s tennis has become more fun, more unpredictable. The stadiums are starting to fill up, we could see it in the Roland Garros final, that was an incredible experience.”

Djokovic has earned simply shy of £6m in prize cash through the 2023 season, whereas ladies’s world No 1 Iga Swiatek has banked round £4m in on-court earnings for the reason that begin of the 12 months.

Earlier this month, Australian star Nick Kyrgios was criticised on social media for wading into the long-running debate.

When tennis podcaster Myles David identified that Dan Evans (£276,500) would obtain considerably greater than Gauff (£94,000) regardless of each gamers successful their respective tournaments in Washington, Kyrgios hit again by arguing that Marketa Vondrousova earned greater than Djokovic at Wimbledon this 12 months.

He wrote: “What about slams? Do we do this breakdown then? Vondrousova made more than Novak that week.”

But the customarily outspoken former Wimbledon finalist was shot down by different Twitter customers who identified that Vondrousova had gained the ladies’s singles last whereas Djokovic had completed runner-up within the males’s last.