Djokovic explains opposition to equal pay in wake of Moore's sexist comments
Less than an hour after winning his record fifth Indian Wells title Sunday, men's world No. 1 Novak Djokovic was asked to respond to the sexist comments made earlier in the day by the tournament's CEO, Raymond Moore.
Contained within Moore's ill-conceived tangent were assertions that WTA players "ride on the coattails of the men" and "don't make any decisions" and should get "down every night on (their) knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born."
Given the opportunity to weigh in, Djokovic was far less pointed than his female contemporaries, saying that the comments were "not politically correct" but "maybe exaggerated a little bit."
While he emphasized that "women deserve respect and admiration for what they are doing" and that he's "completely for women power," he also took the extra step of coming out against equal prize money, which exists at several dual-tour events, including all four Grand Slams and Indian Wells.
"(The women) fought for what they deserve, and they got it," he said. "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, you know, reasons why maybe we should get awarded more. But, again, you know, we can't complain because we also have great prize money in men's tennis ... Look, I don't know what Raymond Moore was exactly referring to when he was saying that, but this is all I can say from my perspective."
Djokovic, who has made an estimated $96 million (excluding endorsements and appearance fees) in his 10-year career, added that his stance against equal pay goes both ways, and that if the numbers showed the women drawing better than the men, the women would "absolutely" be entitled to more prize money.
He then made a clumsy attempt to explain the physiological differences between men and women.
"It's knowing what they have to go through with their bodies, and their bodies are much different than 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. Ladies know what I'm talking about."