Women and Pro Tennis
The US Open is making changes to its seeding for the women's draw to account for players' pregnancy and maternity leave. The latest high-profile player to be affected is Serena Williams, who was No. 1 before she had her daughter but dropped almost 500 rank positions and did not get a seed in this year's French Open.
BuzzFeed - US Open is Making a Big Change
Why does this matter? Seeding is intended to put the top players as far from each other as possible in the draw. Prize-money goes up with each succeeding round, so facing a top-ranked player early dramatically affects your earning potential.
Incidentally, the U.S. Open was the first Grand Slam tournament to hit pay parity for male and female players, in 1973. The others followed in the Oughts - the Australian in 2001, Roland Garros in 2006 and Wimbledon in 2007.
Guardian - Battle of the Sexes
Novak Djokovic, among others, has made the argument that men should be paid more because they draw a bigger audience. It may comfort him to know that they are - the men's tour generally pays much more than the women's tour, outside of combined events.
On a related note, US women's soccer players entered into a new collective bargaining agreement last year, mainly to address pay disparity in response to a suit brought by the players.
BuzzFeed - US Open is Making a Big Change
Why does this matter? Seeding is intended to put the top players as far from each other as possible in the draw. Prize-money goes up with each succeeding round, so facing a top-ranked player early dramatically affects your earning potential.
Incidentally, the U.S. Open was the first Grand Slam tournament to hit pay parity for male and female players, in 1973. The others followed in the Oughts - the Australian in 2001, Roland Garros in 2006 and Wimbledon in 2007.
Guardian - Battle of the Sexes
Novak Djokovic, among others, has made the argument that men should be paid more because they draw a bigger audience. It may comfort him to know that they are - the men's tour generally pays much more than the women's tour, outside of combined events.
On a related note, US women's soccer players entered into a new collective bargaining agreement last year, mainly to address pay disparity in response to a suit brought by the players.
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