'Disparity Is Insane And Needs To Be Addressed': Sharapova Joins Prize Money Debate

| by Sebastian Dahlman

The prize money disparity between the ATP and WTA has been a hot topic this year, and former player Maria Sharapova chimed in on it.

The Russian was never among those tennis players struggling with money because she was one of the best while she played. Being tremendously popular and an endorsement magnet certainly helped, but she's been able to live through the prize money disparity and considers it a real issue.

She's not the only one, as many players talked about it, and events are slowly taking steps to minimize it. It won't happen overnight and might take a long time, but it's better than nothing. Sharapova talked about the prize money disparity during the Bloomberg Screentime Conference.

Just this week, there’s a men’s tournament actually still happening in Shanghai with the Winner’s prize check of $1.2 million. In the same week, there’s a women’s tournament in China with the Winner’s check at $120,000.

Leylah Fernandez Reaches Her First WTA Final In 18 Months At Hong Kong Open
Leylah Fernandez Reaches Her First WTA Final In 18 Months At Hong Kong Open

I don't know if anyone's familiar with those numbers but you go to a Grand Slam and we are celebrating equal prize money. Great. Those are the biggest events with the biggest attention, media, and the buzz. But then the rest of the tour which is the eight or nine other months is there. The disparity is is insane and that needs to be addressed.

Sharapova makes a fair point, and the contrast is stark. It's a very complicated topic, yet the point still stands: the prize money disparity is stark and unfair. It should be addressed, and if not, then at least minimize it in a meaningful way for players.

Having a conversation about i is a good place to start but more will need to be done in the future to ensure its implementation. Time will tell how long it ends up being.

'Disheartened Seeing The Quality Of Alcaraz & Sinner': Shriver On Tsitsipas' Form
'Disheartened Seeing The Quality Of Alcaraz & Sinner': Shriver On Tsitsipas' Form

Read the full article

Just in

Look at more articles