Sergiy Stakhovsky: ´I don´t agree with ATP/WTA Equal prize money, if S. Williams and Federer play at the same time..

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Interviewed by BTU Website, Sergiy Stakhovsky, ATP Player Council member, spoke about prize money problem in tennis. "Every tournament is like a business project where you can gain money. The less you pay players, the more you gain.

Why a girl in the top-500 doesn't gain the same money as a top-30 player does if she practices for the same number of hours? Why FC Dnipro Cherkasy players don't earn the same money as FC Barcelona players? They both play for 90 minutes. "Just like that.

Why do tickets for a men's grand slam final cost 40% than the ones for women's final? Because if there is a product that people want, they pay for it. And it's confirmed by the marketing, ATP is better than WTA. I'm not saying that women have to gain less, but to be honest they increased the prize money because of the ATP players.

They (ATP) told us: "If we increase the prize money for you, we've to do the same for the women." I will be happy if women will gain a lot money, but I don't understand why we should gain the same money when the product is different.

Why doesn't a women's football (soccer) team gain the same money as men's? Because men's football is more popular, and you can note difference in the popularity easily in the ATP and WTA tournaments by seeing the number of people in the courts." In context to the sale of tickets of the US Open women's singles final, the Ukrainian added the following: 'And what happened when Serena loses? I can tell you one thing.

At Wimbledon there is a lottery. Players who win can participate to have chances to gain tickets for their friends. One year I won tickets for men's semi-finals, men's and women's finals. It was the year when Andy Murray reached the final.

I got tickets for £320, someone offered me £17,000 to buy a ticket. Serena Williams who can win the career grand slam increases the price, but this doesn't change anything. Serena Williams and Sharapova always say: "If I play at the same time as Gilles Simon, I'll have more spectators." Yeah, but if Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Djokovic play at the same time, on which court would there would be more spectators? I think that the ATP has been producing a better product than WTA in the last eight-nine years.' The world no.

62 also thinks that he would have ended 2015 in the top-30 if he had won four more matches, 'Marseilles semi-finals, Dubai quarter-finals, Rotterdam quarter-finals, Roland Garros second round and Wimbledon first round,' he added, elaborating on the matches he thought he should have won.

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