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Miami - Top tennis bosses defended prize money equality for men and women as turmoil continued across the tennis scene ahead of Tuesday's start of the ATP and WTA Miami Open.
World number one Serena Williams, a loser in back-to-back finals for the first time since 2004, seeks a fourth consecutive Miami crown and ninth overall while top-ranked Novak Djokovic seeks his sixth Miami title and a record 28th ATP Masters crown.
But equal prize money for men and women remained an issue in the wake of disparaging comments about women's tennis Sunday by Indian Wells tournament director Raymond Moore, who resigned Monday night in the wake of harsh reactions to his critique.
Djokovic subsequently fanned the flames of controversy by suggesting that the disparity in pay was justified.
"What a mess," tweeted women's tennis legend Martina Navratilova. "Moore totally blew it and Novak -- really?"
"It was really disheartening to see Ray Moore offer the extremely prejudiced and very old-fashioned statements regarding women tennis players," she told the BBC. "We have made it this far on our own, without help from male players, and will continue to do so in the future."
WTA Tour chief executive Steve Simon on Sunday called Moore's comments "extremely disappointing and alarming" and added, "The WTA stands on its own and was founded on the principles of equality and empowerment."
ATP president Chris Kermode supported his fellow tour chief on Monday, backing the principle of prize money equality for men and women while admitting those decisions were in the hands of tournament directors.
"Ray Moore's comments towards women's tennis were disparaging and made in poor taste, as Ray has subsequently acknowledged," Kermode said.
"The ATP fully supports equality across society while at the same time acknowledging that we operate in the sports and entertainment business. The ATP seeks to achieve fair compensation for its players by setting minimum prize money levels for ATP events in accordance with the revenues that are generated from men's professional tennis.
"The ATP also respects the right of tournaments to make their own decisions relating to prize money for women's tennis, which is run as a separate tour."
Katrina Adams, the US Tennis Association president and chief executive, made it clear the organizers of the US Open back gender equality for tournament paychecks.
"The USTA and the US Open hold player equality as one of our bedrock principles," she said. "As the first Grand Slam to award equal prize money, we have endeavored to lead the way for gender equality in sports.
"There is no place in this sport for antiquated, sexist or uninformed ideologies and the comments made yesterday in no way reflect the beliefs of the vast majority of those in the tennis world."
