Male tennis players slogged harder than women at this year’s Wimbledon for same pay

LONDON - Male tennis players work far harder than their female counterparts to earn the same amount of cash, it has emerged.

Men’s runner-up Andy Roddick had to work three times as hard as losing women’s finalist Venus Williams at Wimbledon. He flogged himself through a gruelling 331 games, while Venus jetted home having played only 107, The Sun reports.

Wimbledon men’s champ Roger Federer spent almost twice as long on court - 946 minutes - as ladies’ queen Serena Williams, who appeared for just 584 minutes.

Yet both players pocketed a cheque for 850,000 pounds.

In 2007, WTA Tour chief Larry Scott managed to secure equal prize money at all Grand Slams.

But on the basis of the last fortnight at SW19, the girls hardly deserve it.

Federer defeated Roddick in 4 hours, 16 minutes, while Venus lose the ladies’ final in straight sets to sister Serena in a flop lasting just 1 hour 27 minutes.

American ace Roddick banked 425,000 pounds from a tournament that saw him play 29 sets - 331 games in total - and spend 1,211 minutes on court.

That worked out at 14,655.17 pounds per set, 1,283.99 pounds per game and 350.95 pounds per minute.

Nice work if you can get it - until you compare his payout with Venus’.

She played just 14 sets - 107 games - in 481 minutes.

That worked out at 30,357.14 pounds per set, 3,971.96 pounds per game and 883.58 pounds per minute.

For added to the money issue, comes the little matter of entertainment.

Not one single sliced shot was played between the two Williams sisters, underlining how one-dimensional the battle was compared to the chip-and-charge tactics that Roddick added to his game to almost unhinge Federer. (ANI)