Denis Shapovalov has managed to fully immerse himself in the subject of the gender gap in tennis, thanks to his girlfriend Mirjam Bjorklund, player who is currently ranked 145 in the WTA ranking. Shapovalov explained her point of view: «When I started on the Tour, I naively assumed that men and women were treated equally.
Then my girlfriend Mirjam opened my eyes. Last year she qualified for a WTA 250. I told him: great, at least you’re going to win 7,000 dollars just for being in the raffle. Denis but where do you live, she replied: if they give me 100 dollars, it’s a lot.
The gender gap is meaninglessit is totally unfair and should not exist. If you are a woman, you have little chance of surviving in the world of tennis. Yet the girls pack stadiums, have great TV ratings, are perfect testimonials for brands – they have men, nonetheless.
Last year, a men’s and women’s tournament was played simultaneously in Washington. However, to win the first round match, a tennis player earned $14,280 and a tennis player only $4,100. It’s less than a third! I lost the ATP 250 final in Seoul last year – I took $100,000.
What happened to Billy? Jean King’s gender battles?»
The gender gap between men and women
The gender gap between the men’s and women’s Tours at Grand Slam tournaments was a real turning point in the world of tennis..
Wimbledon was the last Major to reach this important milestone in 2007. However, participating in one of the four biggest events on the Tour is not easy. There are many tennis players who fight to conquer the top 100 just to enjoy greater economic benefits.
The disparity in treatment, especially at an economic level, has been accentuated by the Covid-19 pandemic and is further widening the distance between the tennis elite and the rest of the players. The situation becomes more complicated on the WTA Tour.
Excluding the Grand Slam tournaments, in fact, the sum of the prize pools of all the events that took place last year on the Men’s Tour was almost 75% higher than that of the Women’s Tour.
