This year’s French Cup champion Rafael Nadal, 36, is one of the most prolific tennis athletes in the modern era with earning 22 grand slams on his name who is also a key member of the ‘Big Three’ of tennis world.
Nadal is currently ranked World No. 3 and was also ranked No. 1 for a record 209 weeks during the peak of his career, however, he once made headlines by expressing uncanny comments on the payment issues of female tennis players.
What Nadal said on unequal payments of women in tennis?
As a tennis star, Rafael Nadal contributed a lot for the betterment of the sport and his endowments have been highly lauded by celebrities and professionals all over the world.
However, he was highly criticized once for some weird comments made against the favor of women tennis players in the professional stage.
Nadal was interviewed by an Italian magazine Lo Donna where he actually said, “It’s a comparison we shouldn’t even make. Female models earn more than male models and nobody says anything. Why? Because they have a larger following. In tennis too, who gathers a larger audience earns more,”
Following his controversial interview with Lo Donna, Nadal did not panic surprisingly and even backed his opinions on various other social and professional activities which made his fanbase feel doubtful on his mental health for a brief period of time.
How social media reacted on Nadal’s vexed judgement?
Rafa’s moot comments on female tennis players caught the attention of renowned sports professionals across the globe and amongst them journalists and other female players were seen leading their voices from the front line.
Famous sports journalist of New York Times, Mr Ben Rothenberg condemned Nadal’s opinion by posting on the twitter, “Disappointing, but not surprising from Nadal.”
Disappointing, but not surprising from Nadal. https://t.co/hzJu3wIRZ3
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) June 9, 2018
However, some professional entities backed the Spanish star by admitting that there is no proof of raising the salary of women would have any impact on how much men would be paid, yet Nadal still supports policies that result in women being paid less than men.
