From Billie Jean to Serena: How women's tennis won
This week, Indian Wells tournament director Raymond Moore
from the dual-tour event after making comments about his perception of
women's tennis as inferior. He was swiftly rebuked by Serena Williams,
the USTA and other professional female athletes.
But his comments, and the of Novak Djokovic and the questioning
the equal-pay structure at Grand Slams, have again raised the idea that
women somehow don't pull their own weight in the sport. Djokovic later
apologized for his comments.
Women in tennis fought for equal prize money for almost 40 years
until 2007, when Wimbledon became the last of the four Grand Slams to
grant the same-size awards to men and women. While women still struggle
for equal billing and have to combat the occasional undercurrent of
resentment when discussing equal pay in dual-tour events, tennis has
become the most lucrative sport for women.
And it isn't even close.
Women in tennis win more prize money, are more likely to land
big-money endorsements and enjoy more media coverage than their female
peers in golf, basketball and even soccer. The only two women on the last year were Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.
And women's tennis has never been healthier. Prize money has more than doubled to $130 million since 2009. The WTA agreed to a
worth half a billion dollars over the 10-year life of the contract, and
all main-draw matches will be available on TV or stream online,
according to the WTA. The ATP offered approximately $186 million in
prize money last year, according to ESPN's Stats & Info.
As a comparison, the LPGA has roughly $63 million in prize money,
making it the No. 2 sport for women. The PGA Tour offers $325.2 million.
Last week, the PGA Tour and LPGA which could mean joint events in the future.
But equal prize money for men and women in tennis isn't simply
altruism. TV ratings and ticket sales for women's Grand Slam finals in
the U.S. -- especially in the age of Williams -- are often on par with
those of their male counterparts. Sports Business Daily's Wimbledon
records show that women's finals often pull ratings nearly even with the
men, but can lag significantly depending on the matchup.
"Clearly the ability to have both the best female and male tennis
players in the world is one of, if not the main reason for our
sponsorship, viewership, attendance and all the other categorical
successes," said USTA CEO and former WTA player Katrina Adams.
However, there's an alchemy to the success of women's tennis that may be hard to duplicate.
It started in 1970. Billie Jean King, who would later go on to defeat
Bobby Riggs in "The Battle of the Sexes" in 1973, had the idea for a
women's tour -- a pitch that neither the ATP nor the USTA wanted to back
when King approached them. So she and eight other women,
each signed a $1 contract to compete in their own tour. A sponsorship
from Phillip Morris (then Virginia Slims) and a television contract gave
them some financial breathing room.
Brad Barket/Getty Images
Tennis legend Billie Jean King in 2013.
"Nothing was ever the same after that," King told espnW during an
interview at Wimbledon last year. "And the men will never give us
credit."
"We're very fortunate to have had the leadership of Billie Jean
King," said Ilana Kloss , a former player and the CEO of World
TeamTennis. "A lot of things came together. You had her, you had the
passing of Title IX, you had King-Riggs, you had Phillip Morris. They're
all important pieces, and sometimes the stars are aligned."
Former player and ESPN commentator Pam Shriver pointed to the way
tennis events crop up during a calendar year, different from the World
Cup.
"The four majors help hugely on the world stage," Shriver said. "You
have Wimbledon every year -- not like World Cup or Olympics every four
years. We have four huge events every year.
"The way we have structured our sport puts us in the headlines," she
said. "The individual nature, you see the face, you get to know the
personality."
The individuality of tennis has helped women's success, said a senior vice president at sports agency Octagon. The global nature of
the sport appeals to international and luxury brands, and individual
players can be signed without having to negotiate with an entire league,
he said.
But also, in a tennis broadcast, there isn't a helmet or a crowd of
other players on the screen. There are just the two players in the match
in a recurring visual. For Schwab, who advises brands on use of
celebrities and athletes, the amount of time each player appears on
screen increases their appeal.
"When you watch a match for two hours, you're just staring at them,
and that recognition matters in marketing," Schwab said. "A brand may
have six seconds of someone flipping through a magazine or watching TV,
and being able to recognize a person is important."
Men can draw larger crowds to their matches on open courts,
particularly if those matches are epic five-setters, and attendance and
the difference in sets at the Grand Slams are often the basis for the
argument that women don't deserve equal prize money.
"We had some decades when the women were carrying the sport and some
decades where the men were carrying the sport," Adams said, "and then
some when they were the most dynamic duo in the world, and that has a
lot to do with the amount of work put into it by these athletes."
Despite intermittent criticism, the success of women's tennis stands
as a beacon to other women looking to bolster their own leagues. It also
serves as a blueprint. King has often consulted with soccer and other
leagues looking to boost interest.
When you watch a match for two hours, you're just staring at them, and that recognition matters in marketing.David Schwab, SVP at Octagon
Ronda Rousey, Diana Taurasi, Abby Wambach, Danica Patrick -- the
number of women in sports who are household names has never been higher.
Yet, for the most part, female athletes are often compensated at a
fraction of what their male counterparts make.
Except when it comes to Williams. According to Forbes, she received
$11.6 million in salary and winnings last year, compared to Roger
Federer's $9 million and Andy Murray's $6.3 million. Djokovic received
$17.2 million. (Federer had $58 million in endorsements, compared to
Williams' $13 million, according to Forbes).
Williams is a large part of the WTA's success right now. Last year,
when she was going for the calendar Grand Slam, the 2015 US Open
And her matches can easily draw more viewers than the men; her 2014 US
Open final on CBS against Caroline Wozniacki on a Sunday averaged 4.5
million viewers, more than double what the match between Marin Cilic and
Kei Nishikori drew on Monday.
Williams is an encouragement to many other women who play sports
professionally, such as Tamika Catchings, who is embarking on her
Not only has Williams dominated her sport at an age when many athletes
are moving on to the next phase, but she did it as a black woman in a
predominantly white sport.
"[She's been] seriously amazing through the highs and the lows,"
Catchings said. "For her it's been amazing for us to see, not only as a
woman, but as an African-American women -- to be able to look up to her
who had her struggle and had a lot of things go wrong but in spite of
that be successful."
In general, television ratings suggest that tennis fans tune in for
individual players such as Rafael Nadal or Williams in a final. And
because Grand Slam television broadcasts often include a women's and a
men's match in early rounds, it can be challenging to assign one a value
over the other.
But it's not just the Slam purses that make tennis one of the best
sports for women. It's also the cumulative earning potential at events
on the women's tour year-round.
Anne Keothavong reached a career-high rank of 48th in the world
before she retired in 2013. The British player now provides commentary.
Despite not breaking through to the top 10, Keothavong was able to play
12 years as a professional, earning $1.3 million in prize money. That
kind of earning potential makes tennis a viable sport for midtier
athletes.
In the U.S., women who play in the NWSL or WNBA are subject to salary
caps, limiting their earning potential and keeping them far behind
their male counterparts when it comes to pay.
"Obviously the first one through five are way ahead of everyone else,
but compared to other sports you can't really complain too much,"
Keothavong said.
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