Emma Raducanu has criticised the gender pay gap after the tournament in Rome significantly payed less to it’s female athletes than it’s main counterparts.

Although Roland Garros and the tournament in Madrid offered the same pay to the winners of both female and male competitions, the same cannot be said for Rome this week.

The winner between Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka will get 250,000 Euros less than the winner of the men’s final between Alexander Zverev and Nicolas Jarry.

It’s a statistic that is damning on the sport and Emma Raducanu has criticised the figure as she states that the women’s game is technically better than the men’s game, “A lot of women’s players are technically better,” Raducanu told The Times.

“They rely on speed, agility and brain rather than brute strength. The prize money gap is huge on the ATP tour, which I don’t necessarily think is fair, but equally playing three sets in the slams is a lot better than the men’s five, which is brutal.”

Meanwhile as for Raducanu, the Brit is preparing for Roland Garros qualifying next week as she missed out on a wildcard into the main draw.

Despite Raducanu’s gradual improvement over the last few weeks the trolls on social media have failed to go away as the former US Open champion continues her commercial commitments.

Speaking out on the critics Raducanu stated that they don’t see the work of an athlete behind the scenes, “There are those who see me doing a shoot or posing for a commercial and they don’t see the seven hours before that at the training centre, doing physio, gym, hitting balls,” Raducanu explained.

“But if on a rare evening I go to a premiere and I get photographed, that’s my downtime.”

Next week’s appearance in Paris will only be Raducanu’s second Roland Garros having reached the second round two years ago.

Saturday features a blockbuster WTA singles final, as well as the ATP doubles semifinals.

In a rematch from the epic final in Madrid two weeks ago, World No.1 Iga Swiatek will face World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka for the women’s singles title in Rome.  In Madrid, Swiatek saved multiple match points, eventually prevailing 9-7 in a third-set tiebreak.  Can Sabalenka avenge that loss on Saturday?

Iga Swiatek (2) vs. Aryna Sabalenka (2) – Not Before 5:00pm on Center Court

This will be their 11^th meeting, all of which have taken place within the past two-and-a-half years.  Swiatek leads 7-3 overall, and 4-1 on clay.  Sabalenka’s only victory on this surface came in the Madrid final a year ago. 

Iga is now 37-4 on the year, and 13-1 on clay.  She’s on an 11-match winning streak, claiming nine of those matches in straight sets, including all five of her wins this fortnight. 

By contrast, six of Aryna’s 10 match wins between Madrid and Rome have been three-setters, even outlasting Elina Svitolina in a third-set tiebreak in the fourth round of Rome.  But she has now defeated four consecutive seeded players (Yastremska, Svitolina, Ostapenko, Collins), with the last two wins coming in straight sets.  So despite a back issue she’s been dealing with during this tournament, Sabalenka should be rather fresh for this final.

However, overcoming Swiatek on clay has become the WTA’s toughest task.  Across the last five seasons, she is 69-7 on this surface, which is equivalent to a 92% winning percentage.  If Sabalenka couldn’t complete the task in the altitude of Madrid, which favors her game, I don’t like her chances of doing so in Rome, especially with a nagging back issue.  And considering Iga hasn’t lost a completed match in Rome since 2020, the World No.1 should be favored to win her third title at Foro Italico on Saturday.

Other Notable Matches on Saturday:

Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic vs. Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori – Arevalo and Pavic are vying to reach the second final of their new partnership for 2024, and their first since the start of the year in Hong Kong.  The Italian team of Bolelli and Vavassori already eliminated two top 10 seeds to advance to this semifinal, their fifth of the season.

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (1) vs. Alexander Bublik and Ben Shelton – Granollers and Zeballos have advanced to three finals this year, though they’ve lost all three.  Shelton and Bublik are a new team who won three consecutive 10-point tiebreaks to reach this semifinal.

Saturday’s full Order of Play is here.

Novak Djokovic has shockingly accepted a wildcard into next week’s ATP 250 event in Geneva.

The world number one hasn’t had the best season so far having yet to reach a final at any of his events this season.

There was hope for Djokovic that his fortunes would change on clay and the Serb started his clay court season by reaching the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo before losing to Casper Ruud.

However Djokovic’s clay court hopes were dashed in Rome as he lost in the third round to in-form Chilean Alejandro Tabilo.

This has meant that Djokovic risks being undercooked for the second Grand Slam of the season at Roland Garros.

Therefore the Serb has had no option but to take a wildcard into next week’s ATP 250 in Geneva.

Djokovic will join Casper Ruud, Andy Murray, Denis Shapovalov and Taylor Fritz in next week’s event.

Next week’s appearance will be the first appearance in Geneva in Djokovic who will be the top seed in Switzerland.