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Stewart Fisher

Sports Writer

Friday 29 June 2012

WHEN it comes to box office, the big hitters of the women's game still pack a punch.

Maria Sharapova: 'We women have fought so long to get equal prize money'

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Stewart Fisher

Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams topped the bill in the ladies' singles at SW19 yesterday and, fittingly, they also fired a few verbal volleys over the Gilles Simon equal-pay issue.

The Frenchman, a newly elected ATP Player Council member, you will recall, got the ball rolling yesterday with the rather politically incorrect demand that men deserve more than their female counterparts in the way of prize money as their matches frequently go to five sets and they spend more time on the court.

After booking their places in the Wimbledon third round, the two favourites in the women's draw set about dismantling the Frenchman's argument. In retrospect, it was probably particularly bad timing for Simon to sustain a straight-sets loss to Xavier Malisse. The progress of Sharapova, as she endeavours to reclaim the singles crown she won in 2004 as a 17-year-old, is certainly emerging as one of this year's most compelling narratives. The Russian, who showed new-found resolve to complete her own "Maria slam" at Roland Garros earlier this month, yesterday resumed play against Tsvetana Pironkova, of Bulgaria, leading by a set and a break but at least she seemed determined to put her admirers through the wringer.Her Bulgarian opponent has a game well suited to grass – she reached the semi and quarter-final in her last two years here – but it was the collapse of the Sharapova serve mechanics which really made this one interesting. The Russian, who was required to save five set points to win the first set on a tie-break, immediately abandoned her serve after the resumption, going on to serve seven double faults in the second set alone, most of them in the tie-break which allowed Pironkova to level matters. The decider, it was assumed, would go to the wire until Sharapova decided that was quite enough drama for one day. She promptly reeled off the next six games to conclude a 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (3-7), 6-0 victory to take her place in the third round, where she will take on Su-Wei Hsieh, of Chinese Taipei."We women have fought so long to get equal prize money," said the Russian, who hits every day with Vladimir Voltchkov, the 2000 men's semi-finalist. "I'm sure there are a few more people that watch my matches than his (Simon's)."Sharapova is one of the big noises of women's tennis, but just possibly moves are in place to prevent her trademark grunting being the soundtrack of the future. Discussions are under way with WTA chairman Stacey Allaster with a view to turning down the volume level of the next generation by working with juniors in the main tennis academies. "I certainly can't change now, not since I've been doing it since I was four years old," Sharapova said. "But I certainly spoke to Stacey about it. We've had numerous conversations. I'm really happy with the system that she put forth."The Russian's main challenger for the title may be the one remaining Williams sister – who yesterday waltzed through 6-1, 6-4 against Hungarian qualifier Melinda Czink, and now takes on Zheng Jie in a repeat of the 2008 semi-final here – but they were putting on a united front. "Definitely a lot more people are watching Maria than Simon," said Williams, who was joined in the third round by world No.2 Victoria Azarenka. "She's way hotter than he is. But everybody is entitled to their opinion." Whether Simon still felt that after the grilling he faced in the interview room following his 4-6, 4-6, 6-7 (5-7) defeat by Malisse was a moot point. For the record, he felt he had been misinterpreted somewhat, did not feel he should forfeit a percentage of his match fee for just providing three sets worth of entertainment, but felt nonetheless that the remainder of the men's tour was behind him."Maria is more famous than me," the Frenchman said. "I know it. She deserves to win more money than me. That is not the problem. But just check the price of the ticket from the men's final and the women's final for example. "I never thought it was a good idea for women to play five sets. My point was that I feel men's tennis is actually more interesting than women's tennis. The 128 other players think like me, that's for sure. Just ask them."So we did. Andy Roddick, fresh from joining yesterday's other victors Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, David Ferrer and Juan Martin del Potro in the third round, tried to downplay the issue, but did not exactly disagree. "Well, you're going to have your work cut out because 64 of them (male players) have gone home and it is going to be tough to track them down," he said. "But let's not make this a gender issue. I'm sure there're TV ratings to look at." But perhaps Malisse steered the wisest course. "I share his thought," Malisse said, "but I'd rather not get into it. I'd rather he gets into it."

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