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John McEnroe Hits Back At Critics Over Wimbledon Salary

The seven-time grand slam champion has argued that ability, not gender should be considered when it comes to pay.

Published

5 years ago

27/06/2018

Adam Addicott

John McEnroe (zimbio.com)

Former world No.1 John McEnroe has defended his pay at the BBC by saying that he deserves to receive that amount.

Earlier this year an argument erupted when it was discovered that the 59-year-old is paid at least £150,000 for his work during the grass-court grand slam. A panorama investigation found that another former world No.1, Martina Navratilova, was paid only £15,000 for her work during the same period.

“It’s hard to compare exactly because some people work longer days maybe a few more programmes, whatever but overall, it was a shock because John McEnroe makes at least £150,000.” Navratilova told Panorama.
“I get about £15,000 for Wimbledon and unless John McEnroe is doing a whole bunch of stuff outside of Wimbledon he’s getting at least ten times as much money for very comparable work, so yea, at the moment that’s what I know.”

Leading into this year’s Wimbledon championships, which will get underway on Monday, McEnroe has defended his pay. Arguing that individuals should be paid for their quality of work regardless of their gender.

“I don’t think it’s simply like people receiving the same pay,” McEnroe said. “You’re not going out and playing Wimbledon or the US Open, this is a totally different animal.
“It’s like if you work at a paper and there’s a women and a man, you’re going to, I believe, get paid based on the job that you do in the opinion of the paper. And, if the girl does the better job, she should get more money. That’s what it boils down to.”

The BBC has previously said that McEnroe received a significantly higher salary than Navratilova because he was on air ‘three times longer’ and was on a different contract. Although, an investigation in January found an average gender pay gap of 6.8% among on-air staff within the organisation.

Navratilova, who won nine Wimbledon titles between 1978-1990, will be working at the BBC once again this year. On social media she wrote that she was ‘very happy’ to returning to the position. Later adding that it was “good to see the BBC taking gender pay equality seriously”.

McEnroe will also be returning once again. Keeping candid about if he will be doing the same role as previous years, he believes his work with the organisation has been ‘mutually beneficial.’

“I believe so. That’s up to the BBC. But I’ve been fortunate that over at least 15 years it has given me the opportunity to present myself in a different way. At least people see me in a slightly different light than they saw me on the court. I think it’s been mutually beneficial.” He said.

The BBC has the domestic rights to broadcast Wimbledon until at least 2024.

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Carlos Alcaraz beats Yannick Hanfmann on his debut at the China Open

Published

17 hours ago

29/09/2023

sampaolo

This year’s Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz beat Yannick Hanfmann 6-4 6-3 in 1 hour and 37 minutes on his debut at the China Open in Beijing three weeks after reaching the semifinal at the US Open.

Alcaraz has improved his win-loss record to 59-7, leading the ATP Tour. The Spanish player leads the ATP Tour with 8 titles and 5 finals.

Hanfmann saved eight of the eleven break points and broke twice in the first set.

Alcaraz earned an early break in the third game to take a 2-1 lead, but Hanfmann broke straight back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Alcaraz converted his fourth break point in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Hanfmann pulled back on serve in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4. Alcaraz earned his third break with a forehand at 4-4 to seal the first set.

Alcaraz broke twice in the third and ninth games to close out the second set 6-3. The two-time Grand Slam champion did not face a break point in the second set.

Alcaraz converted five of the sixteen break points he faced.

Alcaraz set up a second round match against Lorenzo Musetti, who beat Karen Khachanov 6-3 1-6 6-2. Khachanov won at the Zhuhai Open last week beating Yoshihito Nishioka in the final.

“Hopefully I have a lot of years to come here to China. Creating my chapter here in China would be great for me. To finally be able to come here to China and show my tennis in front of the Chinese people is something that I wanted a long time ago and I am really happy to do it, hopefully the first of many here”, said Alcaraz.

Musetti converted his second break point in the second game to take a 3-0 lead. Khachanov broke back in the fifth game to draw level to 3-3. Musetti broke for the second time in the eighth game to seal the first set 6-3.

Khachanov broke twice in the second and sixth games to close out the second set 6-1.

Musetti broke Khachanov twice in the sixth and eighth games to seal the third set 6-2.

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Jessica Pegula and Maria Sakkari advance to the semifinal in Tokyo

Published

22 hours ago

29/09/2023

sampaolo

Number 2 seed Jessica Pegula cruised past Daria Kasatkina 6-1 6-0 in just 59 minutes at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo to reach her seventh semifinal of the 2023 season.

Kasatkina earned an early break in the opening game of the match, but Pegula reeled off 12 consecutive games. The US player hit 25 winners and broke six times. She saved three break points as she served out the first set. Kasatkina was not able to convert eight game points across her first two service games.

Pegula has scored her second win in as many matches against Kasatkina after beating her Russian opponent 7-5 6-3 in the first round in Rome 2021.

Pegula has improved to 10-9 against top 20 rivals in 2023.

Pegula set up a semifinal match against Maria Sakkari, who beat Caroline Garcia 6-2 6-2 in the quarter final. Sakkari claimed her second win in a week over her French rival equalling her career-best streak of seven consecutive match wins. Last week Sakkari beat Garcia 6-3 6-0 in the semifinal of the Guadalajara Open.

Sakkari hit 15 winners to eight unforced errors and saved all six break points.

The US player will meet her Greek rival for the ninth time in her career and for the third time this season. Sakkari leads 5-3 in her head-to-head matches against Pegula. They are 1-1 in their 2023 clashes. Pegula took the win 6-2 4-6 6-1 in the semifinal in Doha, but Sakkari turned the tables by winning the Washington semifinal 6-3 4-6 6-2.

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Asian Games Champion Qinwen Zheng Reveals Shock Departure Of Coach Fissette

Published

24 hours ago

29/09/2023

Adam Addicott

Image via https://twitter.com/WTA_insider

China’s Qinwen Zheng says she feels ‘hurt’ by the decision of her former coach to end their collaboration in order to work with another player.

The US Open quarter-finalist had been working with Belgium’s Wim Fissette in recent weeks following the departure of Pere Riba who is now the coach of Coco Gauff. Fissette has a wealth of experience in women’s tennis after working with the likes of Kim Clijsters and Naomi Osaka. However, Zheng says she is now looking for a new mentor.

“I understand his decision, but my family and I feel hurt. Right now I don’t want to talk about this person (Fissette),’ journalist Bendou Zhang quoted her as saying.

Fissette is yet to comment on his departure. He had previously coached former world No.1 Osaka between 2019-2022 and during this period she won two of her four Grand Slam titles. The American-based Japanese player is on maternity leave from the sport and gave birth to her first child in July.

20-year-old Zheng is currently ranked 23rd in the world and won her maiden WTA title in Palermo earlier this year. She is the youngest player from her country to have reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam in the Open Era following her run at Flushing Medows. This year she has beaten top 10 players Ons Jabeur and Daria Kasatkina.

Zheng’s latest career milestone is winning gold at the Asian Games on Friday. in the final, she defeated Zhu Lin 6-2, 6-4, in the blistering Hangzhou heat.

“The feeling was incredible,” Zheng said. “I’m really happy about that. That was not an easy match today and also yesterday (in semifinal against Alex Eala). All of them are good fighters.”

It is not clear who Zheng will be working with during the Asian swing.