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 No love lost in tennis pay Women merit prize money equal to men, WTA head says
Posted: Friday June 26, 1998 02:00 PM
LONDON (Reuters) -- Women's tennis is pure theater and deserves equal billing with the men's game, the new boss of the WTA said Friday. Arguing that women's tennis is rich in personalities who adorn pop and fashion magazines, regularly outgun the men in television ratings and have made tennis the hip sport, Bart McGuire has begun the long, hard climb to equal pay at the Grand Slams. Gentle persuasion, he believes, will work. "The women on the tour are great players and great theater," McGuire said. "This is a sport, it is not microbiology. It is supposed to be fun." According to McGuire, women's tennis is a marketing man's dream nowadays, with enough page-turning twists and turns among its stars to make a tennis thriller. Russian teenager Anna Kournikova is as famous for her looks as she is for her lobs. Venus and Serena Williams, two feisty sisters dubbed "Ghetto Cinderellas" by their outspoken father, sport trademark beads in their hair and serve as hard as the men. Monica Seles has fought back from the trauma of being stabbed and the recent death of her father. Steffi Graf is battling back after being plagued by injuries and personal agonies. For McGuire, that is a dream script. Last year, 3.5 million people went to watch women play tennis, the highest figure ever. In television ratings, surveys show women outdo the men by about 20 percent every time. "Indeed I have said -- somewhat tongue in cheek -- I could make a strong case that women could get higher prize money than the men," McGuire, a soft-spoken lawyer, told Reuters in the Wimbledon canteen during yet another rain break in the 1998 tournament. He argues that more women worldwide are attracted to tennis and racket technology has revolutionized the game. Tennis, he believes, has learned the painful lessons of teenage burn-out. The girls are brought on to the tour later and last longer. "They are phased in gradually ... there is less risk of injury," he said. McGuire is all for "bringing out the human side of the players. The popularity of the women's game is not transitory." "Yes, of course, Anna Kournikova gets attention because she is attractive. But she is also an excellent player. It is the combination that adds zest and spice to the game," McGuire said. "This is positive, not a trivialization," he insisted. "We are competing for the entertainment time and the entertainment dollar." The U.S. Open already gives equal prize money to women and men. McGuire has now turned his persuasive talents to the bosses at the French, Australian and Wimbledon championships. He said that at the French Open this year, the appearance of Venus and Serena Williams in the mixed doubles final made the U.S. television ratings shoot up after the men's final. But he stressed: "I am not going to make non-negotiable demands on the Grand Slams. I will respectfully present the case to them. I believe that over the next year or two that will give us progress toward equality." Confrontation and table-thumping do not appeal to him. "I will approach that very respectfully because the Grand Slams are independent and thoughtful on their own and have 100 years of history doing very well," McGuire said.
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Money matters: Sampras (left) earned $702,471 for his Wimbledon title in 1997, while Hingis took home just $596,106 for winning the women's crown 