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Rafael Nadal's take on equal pay has evoked reactions from tennis fans with a section of them even recalling Novak Djokovic's controversial statement on the matter from 2016.
Nadal recently divulged his views on providing equal pay for women in tennis. The Spaniard opined that equality should be established in terms of the revenues players generate. He cited Serena Williams as an example to reflect on how women should earn more if they can generate higher returns from the sport.
"For me, equality is not about giving away. If Serena [Williams] generates more than me and fills stadiums, I don't want to earn more than Serena because 'he is Rafael Nadal'. I want equality. I want women to earn more if they generate it. In tennis, should the prizes be equal? In most tournaments they are. In my sport, I have always supported that internally," Nadal said as quoted by The Tennis Letter on X (formerly Twitter).
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Nadal's statement did not sit well with fans online. One user opined that Djokovic got a lot of stick from the media for voicing a similar outlook eight years ago.
"When Djokovic said the exact same thing, media was positioned that he was not in favor of equal rights and that it was controversial. Classic proof of forced villian narrative," they wrote on X.
Another user maintained that Nadal was just trying to play the 'good guy' now as they recalled the Spaniard's old statements about him seemingly not wanting equal pay for women.
"Dude it's pretty late we already know how you feel (based on your old interviews) you don't want women to get equal pay. No need to play good guy now," they tweeted.
Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans:
A look at Novak Djokovic's take on equal pay from 2016
Novak Djokovic made his views known about equal pay in 2016. During a press conference at the 2016 BNP Paribas Open, the Serb opined that ATP players should be rewarded more for drawing more spectators to matches.
"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," the Serb said.
However, the 24-time Grand Slam champion maintained that women should also fight for what they think they deserve.
"Women should fight for what they think they deserve and we should fight for what we think we deserve," he added.
Novak Djokovic faced huge backlash from the tennis world for his comments, forcing him to apologize later.
On the tour, the Serb most recently played at the Australian Open, where he suffered a semifinal defeat to eventual champion Jannik Sinner. Djokovic is expected to return to action at the BNP Paribas Open, which will commence on March 6.
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