Former World No. 1 tennis player Martina Navratilova led the applause for the soccer team. Notably, the Czech herself played at a time when Grand Slams paid male athletes more than their female counterparts.
The US Open was the first Grand Slam to give equal prize money to men’s and women’s winners, but it wasn’t until 2007 when Wimbledon finally agreed to pay men and women the same amount that all four Majors were handing out equal paychecks to their winners.
2007 Wimbledon champion Venus Williams took home the same prize money as men’s singles winner Roger Federer. The American’s powerful “I’m only a second class champion” essay in Times magazine played a big part in getting her there.
In her essay, Williams criticized the All England Club for sending out the “wrong message” that the accomplishments of women were less important than those of their male counterparts by awarding them with a smaller paycheck.
Williams also addressed the five-set argument, which suggested that men spending more hours on court was a major reason for them being paid more.
Williams stated that women athletes would be happy to play five sets and that the women’s and men’s games held the same value “in the eyes of the public.”
“Serena and I imagined we were playing on the Centre Court at Wimbledon” - Venus Williams in her 2006 essay
In the essay, Venus Williams also wrote about her always wanting to play on the biggest of stages, saying that she and sister Serena Williams would pretend to be playing in Wimbledon finals as children.
Venus and Serena would go on to win Wimbledon five and seven times, respectively.
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