?Vondrousova Made More Money Than..?- Novak Djokovic Dragged Into Controversy as Nick Kyrgios? Absurd Claim Brings Tennis? Pay Disparity Debate to the Fore

The equal prize money distribution debate was ignited on social media again after the recently concluded Citi Open’s winnings were announced. Coco Gauff received only $120,150 while the men’s champion, Daniel Evans claimed $353,445 prize money for the same achievement. It led to a social media debate as the tournament directors showed a disparity between men and women. Among the fans, voicing their opinions, a certain Nick Kyrgios came up with his own one.

The Aussie is one of the most outspoken players on the tour, albeit controversial at times. To present his case for the prize money disparity, he brought his good friend, Novak Djokovic, into the picture. But how did he use Djokovic to counter the prize money disparity debate?

Nick Kyrgios uses Novak Djokovic to strengthen his case

The Grans Slams are among the few tournaments that distribute equal prize money to players on both tours. So, at Wimbledon last month, Marketa Vondrousova earned about $3 million, while men’s runner-up Novak Djokovic claimed $1.5 million. However, Kyrgios believes that Djokovic should have earned more from the Championship.

A tweet that showcased the Citi Open’s bias towards the men was doing rounds on Twitter. When Kyrgios came across it, he countered the original Tweet by bringing in the Wimbledon argument. He said, “What about slams? Do we do this breakdown then? Vondrousova made more than Novak that week.”

The Aussie questioned the critics’ silence when the Slams paid equal money to both men and women. However, the Slams account for only four tournaments all year while almost all other tournaments tend to undermine women.

Prize money disparity is very prevalent in tennis

Most of the tour-level tournaments do not acknowledge the ATP and the WTA players on the same scale. This week’s Rogers Cup has reserved about $6.6 million prize money for the ATP players while only $2.7 million for the women. Other big events, including the Italian Open, have shown similar disparity over the years.

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Certain WTA stars have voiced their opinion about this issue, but the changes haven’t been progressive enough. Among the ATP players, Andy Murray has been regularly vouching for equal pay. However, outside the four majors, tennis tournaments have shown a significant bias towards a particular tour, thereby giving a poor look at the tournament and the sport itself.

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