11-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal has said tennis ‘supports more women than any other sport’ as he hit back at Victoria Azarenka’s suggestion that men should play best-of-three set matches in the majors.
Earlier this week, Azarenka wrote on Twitter that there would be a ‘better quality’ of matches if they were reduced from best-of-five to best-of-three. Citing the physical toll they can take on players during tournaments. Last year two marathon semi-final clashes at Wimbledon amounted to almost 12 hours on the court. Kevin Anderson overcame John Isner 26-24 in the decider, and Novak Djokovic edged past Nadal 10-8. At the majors, three out of four grand slam tournaments now have a tiebreaker in the final set.
“Men should just play best of three in my opinion! Will be much better quality of tennis and hopefully no ruined finals or semifinals because of the exhaustion… like has happened quite a bit.” Azarenka wrote in reply to a question she was asked on Twitter.
Responding to Azarenka’s comment at the Barcelona Open, Nadal has hit back. Stating that he is happy with the current format. The Spaniard then said he was ‘tired’ at the criticism his sport receives when it comes to equal opportunities.
“Why does she want us to play best of three? We’re happy playing best of five,’ Nadal said following his win over David Ferrer.
“It doesn’t matter the prize money, or equal prize money or not, that’s your debate it’s not our debate. It’s interesting that you are always debating on equal prize money in tennis when we are probably the only sport in the world where we are almost equal prize money in most of the events.
‘So I don’t know why you don’t debate about football, basketball, about all the other important sports that women are miles away from the men. You always debate here, in our sport, when we support more the women tour than any other sport in the world.
‘So I’m a little bit tired thinking about we are against the girls. No, not at all.”
Equal prize money has been available at every grand slam since the 2007 Wimbledon Championships. However, it differs in other tournaments. According to one study by The Guardian newspaper, during the first seven months of 2018 over 71% of the top 100 players on the men’s tour had earned more than their female counterparts. Meanwhile, 24 men have earned at least $500,000 in prize money so far this year compared to seven on the women’s tour (as of 22/4/2019).
“Another thing is who sells more, who sells less, that is another debate, but it’s not about men or women, it’s about persons and that’s all.” Nadal explained. “We are the same, somebody deserve more and other ones deserve less. ‘If you are in the same company as another man, and I am doing better in my job than the other man, I have to win more than the other. It doesn’t matter if it’s a girl or man and I’m a little bit tired about this debate all the time.”
Both Nadal and Azarenka are in action this week on the tour. On Friday Nadal faces Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in Barcelona. Meanwhile, Azarenka plays Anett Kontaveit in Stuttgart.
