Do women deserve equal prize money?? Gilles Simon does not think so

Frenchman Gilles SImon, who lost to Xavier Malisse earlier this week, opened the age old debate on equal prie money oonce again by saying that the women did not deserve equal prize money.

"I think that men’s tennis is really ahead of women’s tennis at this stage," Simon told a French paper. "Once more, the men spent surely twice as much time on court as the women at the French Open. We often talk about salary equality. I don’t think it’s something that works in sport. I think we are the only sport that has parity with the women in terms of prize money. Meanwhile, men’s tennis remains more attractive than women’s tennis at this moment."

Several players have come out against Simon's statements.

American teenager Sloane Stephens said she doesntl like the Frenchman. "He hit me with a ball when I was ball kid for the first time. He hit me right in my chest because he lost a point and set he turned around and slammed the ball and it hit me," Stephens said to the US media at Wimbledon. "Whatever he says, that means nothing to me. We had discussion about it on the court last year because he was trying to kick me off the practice court in Estoril and I'm like dude you don't have this court. His coach was nice and he asked me, 'Why don't you like him?' and I said because when I was 10 he hit me with the ball and he didn't even say sorry and kind of walked off. So I was like, 'I don't like him."

Samantha Stosur also said she supports equal prize money. "I think people come out and watch us play because they want to watch us play. I think there are a bunch of men's matches that go five that are pretty boring to watch, as well. It's not like a best-of-five match is better than a best-of-three."