Raymond Moore’s Sexist Remarks
The duo of triumphs by Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka at the BNP Paribas Open failed to tame the controversial comments said by former tournament CEO Raymond More. Moore, a former South African tennis professional, spoke critically about the WTA Tour during a press conference. The comments came after he was asked about potential plans to enhance the women’s competition in a similar way to the men’s. Indian Wells hopes to turn the men’s tournament into a newly created ‘Super Masters’ in the future.
“They ride on the coattails of the men. They don’t make any decisions and they are lucky. They are very, very lucky”. Moore said of the women’s tour.
“ If I was a lady player, I’d go down every night on my knees and thank god Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal was born, because they have carried this sport. They really have”.
Moore’s comments were blasted by numerous tennis professionals. Serena Williams branded the comments as ‘very mistaken’ and ‘very inaccurate’.
The fallout from those statements resulted in the conclusion of Moore’s reign at the tournament, ending his 25-year involvement in the prestigious event. On March 22nd the 70-year-old resigned from his role.
Following on from the controversy surrounding Moore, Novak Djokovic also found himself in the firing line following his comments about equal pay. Also speaking during the Indian Wells tournament, the Serbian struck a nerve when he argued that it is justifiable to pay men more than women as they generate a bigger revenue for the sport.
“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. 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.”
As some criticised the remarks from the multiple grand slam champion, he later wrote a clarification of his viewpoint on Facebook, which cooled down the debate.
Equal pay has been awarded at all grand slam tournaments since 2007. The US Open was the first major to award the equal amounts in 1973.
