Former world number one Maria Sharapova has criticized the gender pay gap given the prize money at the ATP Shanghai Masters and WTA Zhengzhou Open. The incident received mixed reactions from tennis fans around the world.
Sharapova recently appeared on the Bloomberg Screentime Conference with Jason Kelly where she discussed the controversial topic, saying “the disparity is insane” and needs to be resolved sooner rather than later.
“Just this week there is a men’s tournament in Shanghai with a winner’s check of $1.2 million. The same week there is a women’s tournament in China with a winner’s check of $120,000,” he said. declared the Russian.
“I don’t know if anyone knows these numbers, but you go to a Grand Slam and we celebrate equality in prize money. Great. These are the biggest events with the most attention, media and buzz. But then the rest of the tour that lasts another eight or nine months is there. The disparity is insane and it needs to be addressed,” she added.
Maria Sharapova’s comments didn’t sit well with some tennis fans and they took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their thoughts. One user quickly pointed out that the Shanghai Masters is an ATP 1000 tournament, while the Zhengzhou Open is a WTA 500 event, so the comparison is meaningless.
“First of all…one is a masters while the other is a 500, so it’s not even a one-on-one comparison. And that’s before we even get into the profitability of the respective organizations,” wrote the user.
Another account posted:
“How much money did she make from beauty product ads, based on her gender, compared to male players of similar status, should that also be equal?”
However, other fans agreed with Maria Sharapova’s comments, as one user stated:
“Mother is still talking, the sexists in the comments can continue to cry.”
Another account tweeted:
“I would rarely agree with this junkie, but she’s right.”
A look at Maria Sharapova’s career
Maria Sharapova has been a force to be reckoned with for over a decade in women’s tennis. She began playing competitive tennis at the age of 14 and reached the world No. 1 ranking five times. She is also the only Russian player to have achieved a career Grand Slam.
Sharapova won her first Grand Slam singles title at the 2004 Wimbledon Championships. She defeated the defending champion Serena Williams in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, to enter the top 10 for the first time.
With his victory at Roland-Garros 2012, Maria Sharapova became the 10th woman to complete the career Grand Slam. She was also the first Russian woman to reach number one in the world rankings, which she did on August 22, 2005.
The 36-year-old is also an Olympic medalist, having won silver in the women’s singles at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Sharapova won 36 singles titles, including five Grand Slam titles (two at the French Open and one at the Australian Open, one at Wimbledon and one at the US Open), during her illustrious career.
However, the Russian announced her retirement from the sport in 2020, following a series of injuries.
