We know that the tennis world is in a touch of disarray at present, all stemming from the ridiculous comments of the now former tournament director of  the popular Indian Wells event.

That would be Raymond Moore, a South African, and you can play catch up with his outdated comments HERE.

Things quickly worsened when Novak Djokovic added his two cents, saying that men did in fact deserve greater pay than women.

A side note for those who say but men play five sets and women play three, that’s only at a handful of events every year with the rest of the season being three each. Also, you pay the same for a 90-minute movie as a three-hour movie don’t you?

Serena Williams, arguably the world’s foremost female athlete, hasn’t been holding her tongue and she tore into Novak once more. Below from the Sydney Morning Herald:

“If I have a daughter who plays tennis and also have a son that plays tennis, I wouldn’t say that my son deserves more because he is a man. If they both started at three years old I would say they both deserve the same amount of money.

“I have been playing since the age of two and it would be shocking to say my son would deserve more than my daughter. It is irrelevant.”

“Novak is entitled to his opinion but if he has a daughter – I think he has a son right now – he should talk to her and tell her how his son deserves more money because he is a boy,” she said.

Andy Murray also weighed in with some criticism of Djokovic’s comments:

Murray said over the last decade men’s tennis had benefited from some high-profile rivalries, but women players were also able to draw strong crowds.

Speaking at the start of the Miami Open, Murray said women deserved the same prize money as men at all combined events.

“At a tournament like this, for example, if Serena is playing on centre court and you have a men’s match with [Sergiy] Stakhovsky playing, people are coming to watch Serena,” he said.

“The crowds are coming to watch the women as well. The whole thing just doesn’t stack up – it changes on a day-to‑day basis depending on the matches you get.”

Of course Novak has since said his comments were taken out of context with the BBC reporting:

In a post on his Facebook page on Tuesday, Djokovic sought to “clarify” what he had meant to say.

“Tennis helped me so much in my life and being where I am today, I felt the need to speak about the fairer and better distribution of funds across the board,” he wrote. “This was meant for both men and women.

“We all have to fight for what we deserve. This was never meant to be made into a fight between genders and differences in pay, but in the way all players are rewarded for their play and effort.

“Tennis is a sport that I love and that gave me the opportunity to help others who still have a long way to go to achieve their dreams.

“This was my view all along and I want to apologise to anyone who has taken this the wrong way.”

Something tells me the changing rooms during the upcoming tournaments may be full of awkward exchanges. Let’s hope Novak and Andy Murray go head to head soon, it may the first time outside of the UK that anyone has actually rooted for Andy.

[sources:foxsports&smh&bbc]