Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek’s $45 Million Bounty Not Enough for Tennis To Emerge As Frontrunner in Women’s Sports

The list of the highest-paying sports for women is released and tennis didn’t secure the first place in it. Many female tennis stars previously spoke about the differences between the salaries of ATP and WTA players. Even Martina Navratilova joined the activism of female tennis players against this discrimination. However, despite Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek‘s annual pay dominance, when it comes to money, it looks like 2023 is not for women’s tennis.

In 2017, The Forbes list of the hundred highest-paying athletes contained only Serena Williams‘s name and that also in the 51st position. While she won more Grand Slams than one could imagine, she was left behind by five male tennis stars including Nadal, Federer, and Murray. Now the recent list of highest-paying women’s sports revealed the pay disparity for women in tennis once again.

Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek’s ravishing annual pay couldn’t make tennis 2023’s highest-paying women’s sport

The official Instagram channel of ‘Paritynow’ recently dropped the list of the top highest-paying women’s sports. In this list, tennis came second after Golf. Fans could spot the parity in the given pictures, where Golf’s number-one female player’s average annual salary is $423,393. While tennis star Iga Swiatek earned $354,313 on average this year. The third one was basketball with an average annual salary of $107,340. After that, there was ice hockey, and soccer, which scored the fourth and fifth position respectively. Swiatek’s annual earnings were $23.9 million and Gauff’s $21.7 million, yet tennis couldn’t top the list.

Now compared to Swiatek’s annual salary, the male tennis star and world’s number one, Novak Djokovic earns way more. Djokovic earned an average of $10.9 million this year of which $9 million came from his Wimbledon prize money. Considering that Swiatek who also bagged her Wimbledon trophy this year, received just $3 million prize money.

Djokovic and Swiatek’s annual salary showed the huge pay disparity in tennis. In fact, America’s promising tennis star, Coco Gauff earned $6 million from the sponsors and matches. Despite that, both of these female stars couldn’t match up to Djokovic’s annual income. Now fans think this pay difference is also a reason why tennis stood second in the list of highest-earning women’s sports.

Read more: 5 Years After Pay Gap Fight With the BBC, 59-Time Grand Slam Champion Martina Navratilova Corrects Them Over Their Conventional Headline Featuring English Cricketing Couple

Martina Navratilova’s take on the pay disparity in tennis brings attention to the issue

In 2019, Martina Navratilova made a bold spoke against BBC’s statement. She then revealed how she was paid much less than John McEnroe in a tournament. From raising concern over WTA tournaments in Saudi Arabia to asking for equal salaries for WTA and ATP players, this former tennis legend never failed to speak for the right. Navratilova also schooled Djokovic on the former’s ignorant comment on the issue.

She said- “Novak Djokovic, as much as I love him, clearly doesn’t understand why, when women and men play in combined tournaments, they must be paid equally. I thought we settled that issue years ago.” The recent list of ‘Paritynow’ on the highest-paying female sports once again brought the cruel reality of women in tennis.

Despite having so many sponsors, if WTA players still fail to match up with ATP players in annual salary, fans should also voice their concerns. Through the voices of both the players and fans, female tennis stars can surely reach their demands soon.

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