As long as he stays away from all this "hormones" business, what No. 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic said about earning greater prize money based on popularity is not wrong.
The No. 1 tennis player saying he believes pay should be based on popularity -- through television ratings and attendance ratings -- however clumsily, is not wrong.
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"I applaud (women) for that, I honestly do," Djokovic told The Guardian on the issue of equal pay. "They fought for what they deserve and they got it. On the other hand 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.
"I have tremendous respect for what women in global sport are doing and achieving. Their bodies are much different to men's bodies. They have to go through a lot of different things that we don't have to go through. You know, the hormones and different stuff, we don't need to go into details."
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If the same pay for the same work in athletics were equal among genders, then WNBA players would earn as much as NBA players.
But that is certainly not the case.
Djokovic's comments came on the heels of Indian Wells tournament director Raymond Moore's asinine comments prior to the BNP Paribas women's final between Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka that women's players should "go down every night on (their) knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born because they have carried this sport. They really have."
The 2013 and 2014 U.S. Open women's finals had a higher television rating than the men's final, according to CNBC. So by Djokovic's argument, the women's finalists should have gotten more money.
But the entirety of the event must be factored in. Did the 2013 and 2014 U.S. Open women's tournament attract more viewers over the two weeks than the men?
If that's the case, then, yes, the women deserve more money.
The 2015 U.S. Open featured a men's final that drew 3.2 million viewers, compared to the women's 1.6 million, according to Sports Media Watch. But the men's final featured the two biggest men's names in the game in Djokovic and Roger Federer, while the women's games featured two relative unknowns, both from Italy, in Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci.
But did the women's draw get more viewers overall because of Serena's chase of the calendar Grand Slam?
And these ratings are U.S. ratings. What about global ratings?
SportsTVRatings.com showed that the 2015 Wimbledon men's final between Djokovic and Federer had 2 million viewers compared to the women's final drawing 1.4 million for a match between Williams and Garbine Muguruza.
So a lot of the ratings depend on the matchups.
Djokovic stayed away from the argument about the best-of-five-set format for men's Grand Slam events vs. best-of-three for women, which ratings show doesn't matter.
The question is, would men be OK if the women were paid more for a particular event if they drew a larger viewing and attendance share?
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