Miami: Women athletes who sacrifice having children and raising families during the peak years of their playing careers should earn what men do, says two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The 30-year-old Russian weighed in Wednesday on the gender pay equity issue raised last week when the former Indian Wells tournament director and top-ranked Novak Djokovic made comments knocking level prize money for men and women at tennis events.
It came on the same day the US women’s national football team, reigning Women’s World Cup and three-time defending Olympic champions, went to the government to seek equal pay to their male counterparts.
Kuznetsova, who advanced to the ATP and WTA Miami Open final Thursday by downing Swiss 19th seed Timea Bacsinszky, says men can have children and start families in their 20s without surrendering a year or more of their careers.
“Some of the men say we shouldn’t get the same prize money. The guys that travel on the road, they say they give more than we do. But they can have kids. They can have a family, right? We cannot,” Kuznetsova said.
“I play since I am 14. Since 16, I am professional. I was playing eight months a year every year. I didn’t have anything. I gave up everything. Friends. Home.
“I think we do deserve (equal pay). We give more than 100 per cent. We give our life. I think we’re owed that.”
British world number two Andy Murray, 28, became a father in February, his wife Kim giving birth to daughter Sophia.
And 28-year-old Djokovic, who walked back his comments to support equal pay in Miami, became a father in October 2014 when son Stefan was born.
Roger Federer, 34, has a record 17 Grand Slam titles and four children, two sets of twins, one born in 2014 and the other in 2009, a year when he won two Grand Slam titles and was twice a Slam runner-up.
“Many guys say, ‘We’ve got to earn more than women,’” Kuznetsova said. “We’re not taking their money. We just want to earn the same.
“I’m just saying in some part we give more than they do. Yeah, they play more matches. They are physically stronger, which men are, which is normal. But we give up much more personal space being on the tour, not being able to have a normal decent family.
“That’s why we’re equal. I think it’s fair.”
Kuznetsova also notes the expensive nature of the tour life, paying for personal coaches and trainers in order to maximise potential and extend careers.
“Nobody ever counts what expenses players pay,” she said. “You can only afford a team like good fitness coach and physio. Pay a few travelling, rooms, it will cost you a lot. You can only be top 10 to pay that.
“I’m an investment. And it’s huge pressure. After you do not do so well, you cannot cover your own team.”
