WTA star Eva Lys recently voiced her opinion about Iga Swiatek earning significantly less than Carlos Alcaraz for their win at the Cincinnati Open. Following this, the German shared instances of online hate that she received as a result.
Alcaraz recently competed at the Cincinnati Open, where he delivered some impressive performances and advanced to the final round. Here, he locked horns with Jannik Sinner, who eventually retired in the middle of the showdown, citing an injury. The Spaniard claimed a 5-0 win over the Italian and won his maiden Cincinnati title. Similarly, on the other hand, Swiatek also reached the finals of the tournament after displaying her dominant skills on the court.
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The Pole squared off against Jasmine Paolini in the last round and claimed a 7-5, 6-4 win. With their wins, Alcaraz received $1,124,380 as prize money, and Swiatek received $752,275 for the same feat. Eva Lys shared the concern of unequal pay between the athletes on her Instagram story, highlighting the difference. Here is a snippet:
Shortly after this, Lys opened up about receiving backlash from 'triggered men' online. She shared a selfie and wrote:
"Its so funny (and concerning) to see how many MEN got triggered by my last story."
Along with these updates, she also shared a picture of her dad wearing the 'Everyone watches women's sports' t-shirt and wrote:
"Dad has always been our biggest supporter <3"
Interestingly, Iga Swiatek had also talked about equal prize money during the 2023 Madrid Open.
Iga Swiatek once opened up about equal prize money, calling women's tennis more consistent than men's
Ahead of the 2023 Madrid Open, Iga Swiatek sat in a press conference, where she discussed the pressing issue of receiving unequal pay. She highlighted the fact that after winning the Stuttgart Open, a WTA 500 event, she took home $114,976. On the other hand, Carlos Alcaraz, who won the Barcelona Open, an ATP 500 event, won a prize money of $527,344.
Making her feelings known about this issue, she prompted WTA to encourage equal prize money on a priority basis. Talking about the politics involved in this concern, she said:
"There is a lot we can work on in terms of, you know, getting equal prize money on some WTA tournament compared to ATP on the same level. Grand Slams are already even, as we know. That's nice, but for sure it would be good if WTA would focus on that, but I don't really want to get into that, because it's a lot of business and sometimes politics," said Iga Swiatek.
Admitting to not having a lot of influence that would ensure the implementation of equal prize money in the tennis community, Iga Swiatek said that it would be a fair thing if the sport started treating men and women equally, as they do the same work.
"I don't think I have, you know, a lot of influence. I just can say that it would be nice for our sport if it was equal, especially because, you know, we kind of do the same work," she added.
She further went on to say that women's tennis has been more consistent than men's.
"Right now basically I think, you know, we are even more consistent than the guys, you know, with our game," she said.
Iga Swiatek is currently competing at the mixed doubles tournament of the US Open, where she has teamed up with Casper Ruud. Both players recently won the first round against Frances Tiafoe and Madison Keys on August 19 at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
