A few days have passed since Rafael Nadal’s interview with La Sexta. Yet, the dust is still settling on the several revelations he made. One big talking point of the interview is name-dropping Serena Williams.
Rafael Nadal went viral a long time ago after commenting about women getting paid more in the fashion industry in comparison to men. That was in response to a pointed question of ‘Equal Pay’ or ‘Gender Pay Gap’. He took a firm stand for equal pay between men and women this time.
In the most recent interview, Rafael Nadal said that women and men should get equal pay. In fact, he took it a step further and explained that if a woman generates more revenue than a man, then she should even get more pay. This is where Serena Williams got a mention. In other words, if Serena Williams drives more people to the stadium, then her payment should be more. If that’s more then so be it. That will be fair.
Rafa Nadal says he supports equal pay for women in tennis & always has:
“For me, equality is not about giving away. If Serena generates more than me and fills stadiums, I don’t want to earn more than Serena because ‘he is Rafa Nadal.’ I want equality. I want women to earn more… pic.twitter.com/zTRjWxG96J
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) February 14, 2024
Rafael Nadal also believes that he has always believed and supported that in sports. The Serena Williams net worth is $300 million, which includes approximately $95 million in tennis prize money. She is richer than her sister Venus Williams and also richer than Maria Sharapova.
Despite this noble point of view of Rafael Nadal, fans are quick to point out that he didn’t quite show his support the last time an interviewer posed him with a gender pay gap question.
“What is your opinion on women earning less than men in tennis and what do you think is this based on?” asked a reporter to Nadal.
“Well, I don’t know. I don’t know what it is based on in soccer or golf or modeling. I do’t know. Why do women earn more than men in the fashion industry? Well, I don’t know. But then again, we don’t talk all day long about salary difference,” answered Rafael Nadal to the reporter.
Rafael Nadal was making the argument that different industries treat different people, based on their gender, differently in terms of salary. He had no idea why that was. A lot of tennis fans didn’t spare him much though for his comment and reminded him of it after his recent interview is going viral.
Always has… LOL
Question: “What is your opinion on women earning less than men in tennis?”
Nadal – “Why do women earn more than men in the fashion industry? But we don’t talk about it all day.” pic.twitter.com/IlmIVnWotc— . A͟O͟¹⁰ (@NoleLondon) February 15, 2024
He does now, but we remember his initial thoughts, no?
— Pokey Baraka (@Radukinaa) February 14, 2024
Bruh he literally said they should earn it by generating more revenue and popularity and he didn’t say they should just get it if regardless lol
— aniballer (@aniballerz) February 14, 2024
“Always has” ? Sorry, but that is a lie. At least show the truth. Nadal did not “always” support equal pay for women. pic.twitter.com/TZklKVQvVN
— JANE ☮️ (@JANE79591745) February 15, 2024
I think people don’t understand what equal pay means. It surely doesn’t mean taking money from male players and giving to women. Each sport is paid according to what it generates in revenue (tickets, TV rights, sport wear and gear sales etc). Women’s sports generate way less. pic.twitter.com/mlobbdBNXD
— Mihai C. (@coQueru) February 15, 2024
