Equal pay issue: Think about our sacrifices says Svetlana Kuznetsova

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

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.

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. Kuznetsova 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).”
Andy Murray, 28, became a father in February, his wife Kim giving birth to daughter Sophia. And Djokovic, who walked back his comments to support equal pay in Miami, became a father in October 2014 when son Stefan was born.

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