The 2024 Australian Open concluded after two weeks of thrilling action with Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka winning the men’s and women’s singles titles. Some fans on X (formerly Twitter) created controversy by objecting to the equal prize money both athletes received.
Currently, the four Grand Slams are the only events on the tennis calendar that offer equal prize money to men and women. The Australian Open started handing out identical amounts in 1984, 11 years after the US Open became the first tournament to do so. However, they recanted their decision in 1996, only to resume equal prize money in 2001. Wimbledon and the French Open followed suit in 2007.
For 2024, singles champions Sinner and Sabalenka received A$3,150,000 ($2,130,975) each, a 5.8% increment from last year. Grand Slams offering equal payouts is hailed as a great move in the sporting world. However, certain sections of fans on X were not happy with the Italian getting the same amount as the Belarusian. They pointed out Sinner had to play more sets than Sabalenka, spending more time on the court.
Sinner should receive more. Dude had to play 3 or more sets while Aryna did less. Men should be paid more in grand slam. They stay hours on court. Danil stayed up till 4am playing tennis.
— Iyke (@drackfel) January 29, 2024
Except that Sinner plays best of 5 while Sabalenka plays best of 3 https://t.co/XjzBdkiheC
— Jay (@jaymezza12) January 29, 2024
Men should get more they have to play best of 5 not best of 3
— Chris Brown (@chrisbrown22111) January 29, 2024
Respectfully don’t agree at all.
Hours on court isn’t even close. Women are getting paid CONSIDERABLY more per hour.
— Oliver | MMMT Wealth (CPA) (@MMMTwealth) January 29, 2024
This is so unfair!!!
They DID NOT play the same sets!
Jannick plays for best of 5 while Aryna plays for best of 3!!!
Even at their best odds, still Sinner played more sets BY FAR than Sabalenka!!!! https://t.co/VOkv1ulTe0— محمد (@M7md_Buhindi) January 29, 2024
men play 5 sets
6 matches to win means max of 30 sets= $71032.50 per set for men
Women play 3 sets
6 matches to win means max of 18 sets= $118387.50 per set for women.
Variation occurs 2 sets vs men 3 sets to win a match
But women earn 40% more than men for the Australian open.— Link Lifter (@777cubic) January 29, 2024
Some even advocated for women to play best-of-five matches or bring down men’s games to best-of-threes to justify the matching prize money.
I am a woman, but this is so UNFAIR!!! Pay them the same when they play the same number of set, otherwise don’t cuz they don’t deserve! To not talk about the number of people who watch men’s tennis vs women’s tennis! https://t.co/Akn0o59yTD
— Andreea Elena (@andreea11m) January 29, 2024
Kinda unfair on the men considering they play almost twice as much sets as the women. Unless they reduce the men’s sets to 3 or increase the women’s sets to 5 as well. Sometimes equality leads to unfairness, I guess.
— Lindie Langa (@AwaitedOne1) January 29, 2024
Either let the women play five sets or let the men play three sets if the compensation should be equal.
Otherwise its just less paid hourly for the men. And some of them had to play until 4-5AM…
— (@Salle7De) January 29, 2024
Personally I don’t have a problem with equal prize money but I think the women should play the best of 5 or the men should play the best of 3 at least
— Starboy (@VaughnRichards4) January 29, 2024
Other fans argued men’s tennis attracted more viewers, hence they deserved more pay.
… and they attract tens of millions more viewers equalling a lot more ad revenue generated
— DAdmiral (@DWardall) January 29, 2024
Pay should be directly proportional to the amount of revenue these athletes generate. If a woman generates more revenue, she should be entitled for more pay and vice versa.
— Asim Gupta (@asimgupta86) January 29, 2024
In terms of attendance, women´s final had 39,113 spectators and men´s final got 46,365, so they didn´t entertain the same number of people, and not for the same amount of time (75 mins vs almost 4 hours)
— Juancho (@JuanBertoldi2) January 29, 2024
Many fans praised Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner getting equal prize money for Australian Open title
The equal prize money discussion is a long-standing point of contention amongst the tennis fraternity. While the Grand Slams offer uniform payouts for both men and women players, all other WTA and ATP Tour events still lag behind. Every step towards achieving equal pay is usually met with positivity. However, some detractors always exist to stir up debate, as seen above.
Many fans came ahead to praise the Australian Open’s tradition of equal pay. They slammed the other X users who were not in favour of identical prize money.
the fact people are still complaining about equal prize money is insane. they are both high performing athletes who have spent their lives preparing for these events and working just as hard as each other. we are privileged that we get to see them play and they deserve equal pay. https://t.co/Lqp6BoZ4CE
— cate (@viragovm) January 29, 2024
One of the beautiful reasons to play Tennis https://t.co/6z0YxplLWo
— Ezinne Victoria Oti (@Duchessofsport) January 29, 2024
Shout out to the ATP , WTA , and IBF for making sure both the men and women are being compensated accordingly and fairly on both ends for their hard work and dedication.
— Benoit Blanc (@_fabianstrategy) January 29, 2024
Both, women and men, deserve every cent
— Diana (@DianaSfirlogea) January 29, 2024
Salty losers in the replies you love to see it. https://t.co/neZXU5TEqJ
— Haise Sasaki (@yashbrownie) January 29, 2024
equal pay!!
You see only “some” people cry about this. https://t.co/pYKHjZRB8z
— Mangalam Undagattum! (@JPngraponnu) January 29, 2024
