Former tennis star Andre Agassi says players who generate more interest should be given more money, irrespective of their gender. The female tennis players have been given lower prize money when compared with money earned by men.
Andre Agassi used the example of two of the star tennis players Rafael Nadal and Serene Williams to explain the whole situation and what he thinks of it. In an interview with Times of India, Agassi said, "Well I don't follow the debate but remember we are not talking about a human's rights issue. We are not talking about atrocities, we are talking about a pretty blessed life and we are talking about a business decision made by some guys running a business."
"So, if you are paying someone based on gender, there's no place for that. But if you are making a business decision on who you are trying to incentivize to be the content or the product of what you're delivering, then it's your right as a business to decide who you are going to value and what you are going to value," said Agassi.
"For all I know, more people watch Serena than Nadal, but it's not for me to say that they will or they won't. But if I ran a business, and somebody was going to come and watch Serena more than Nadal, I would pay Serena more than Nadal, because it's my business and vice versa."
The debate regarding the pay gap in tennis has been going on for the last couple of years.
In 2016, world number one Novak Djokovic said the money should be fairly distributed who attracts more attention and sells more tickets.
"...I think that our men's tennis world, ATP world, should fight for more because the stats are showing that we have much more spectators on the men's tennis matches. I think that's one of the reasons why maybe we should get awarded more," Guardian reported Djokovic's comments.
"Women should fight for what they think they deserve and we should fight for what we think we deserve. As long as it's like that and there is data and stats available upon who attracts more attention, spectators, who sells more tickets and stuff like that, in relation to that it has to be fairly distributed."
