Sexism is no joke, says women’s tennis chief

SINGAPORE — It is one thing to not enjoy the same level of financial recognition as their male counterparts or be caught up in ugly off-court spats, but Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) chief executive officer Stacey Allaster draws the line when it comes to sexism.

At the Australian Open last month, courtside commentator Ian Cohen controversially asked Serena Williams and rising Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard to perform a twirl after winning their first- and second-round games, respectively.

The incidents left Bouchard red-faced, while an irate Williams retorted later that she would not ask Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal to do the same.

While Allaster, who was in Singapore on a brief stopover to discuss plans for this year’s BNP Paribas WTA Finals in Singapore from Oct 25to Nov 1, accepts more work is needed to increase the prize money in the women’s circuit and manage tension between players, such as the recent spat between Williams and Maria Sharapova, she believes sexism can really hurt women’s tennis.

“It is 2015 and high time to treat our female athletes with respect and focus on their performance,” she told TODAY at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel yesterday. “Fun or not, (the comment was) inappropriate for a woman. Those types of questions on an international stage — and for a man to ask a woman to do that — are not acceptable.”

Last year, Russian Tennis Federation president Shamil Tarpischev also caused a storm when he described Serena — whose elder sister Venus is also a multiple Grand Slam champion — as “one of the Williams brothers”.

Frenchman Jo Wilfried-Tsonga sparked controversy in 2013 when, in response to a query on why women’s tennis is not dominated by a handful of names such as in men’s tennis, he replied that it is because women “are more emotionally unstable” and that men “don’t have all these bad things, so we are physically in good shape every time and you are not”.

Allaster said comments such as those are completely unacceptable. “We have come a long way in the issue of sexism and there is still a long way to go. We need everyone involved in tennis to be with us on this and stand on the same page, so we can eradicate that fast.”

Nonetheless, Allaster noted that even though prize money in women’s tennis still trails the men’s, it has improved a lot over the years. In 2007, Wimbledon and Roland Garros began offering equal prize money. Since 2009, there has also been a 70 per cent increase in prize money in women’s tennis, tied to growth in tournament revenue.

“The ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) has more events (67 events) than we do at the WTA (55) so, by default, they have more prize money,” said Allaster. “Our focus is we are going to be equal when we have an equal product on the court ... we (will) continue to champion for that.”

Allaster believes Singapore’s staging of last year’s WTA Finals was a great advertisement for women’s tennis. The total prize purse of US$6.5 million (S$8.75 million) and 93,000 spectators who attended the tournament over its 10-day duration at the Singapore Indoor Stadium are record figures for the event since it was first held in Boca Raton, Florida, in 1972.

However, Allaster warned that all stakeholders involved could not afford to take their foot off the pedal. “The report card last year had mostly As on it, so it is really about building upon the great success of last year,” she said.

“What we do know is we must introduce something new and different. We cannot rely on what we did last year. There must be something new and of a surprise to fans.”

IMPROVEMENTS TO WTA FINALS 2015

TWO COMMENTATORS, INSTEAD OF ONE Allaster revealed that Kevin Skinner, the commentator who signed off on the final day of last year’s WTA Finals with a ‘zaijian (goodbye) from China!’, which upset many Singaporeans, would not be back. Noting it was too much for one person to be on air throughout the tournament, Allaster, who described Skinner’s gaffe as a ‘very careless and serious mistake’, said there will be two broadcast teams this year to minimise fatigue.

BETTER FACILITIES Allaster said the WTA is working closely with SportsHub Pte Ltd to make sure logistical issues, such as poor lighting, would not occur this year.

MORE F&B OUTLETS More outlets will remain open till late, after fans could not find food and drinks at last year’s tournament when matches stretched into the night.