Raymond Moore, Indian Wells tournament CEO, has been forced to apologize and to quit his position after he made controversial comments about women's tennis.
Moore, 69 years old, declared the women's game "rides on the coat-tails" of the men. The United States Tennis Association (USTA) has labeled his view as "sexist."
Raymond Moore also added that female tennis players "should get down on their knees" in thanks to male counterparts such as Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Moore, a South African former tennis player, apologized later for his remarks.
According to BBC News, Raymond Moore's statement was received in various ways by the big names in the tennis world. For instance, Serena Williams, women's world number one, called the statement as "offensive and very inaccurate." Tennis legend Martina Navratilova stated that female players may boycott Indian Wells if Moore stayed and called his comments "extremely prejudiced".
Novak Djokovic, men's world number one, stated that his tour should receive more money. The winner of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Sunday, Djokovic, labeled Moore's remarks "not politically correct." But the 28-year-old Serb also argued that men tennis champions should win more prize money because a larger audience watches their matches.
Since 2007, in tennis tournaments there has been equal prize money in all four majors - the US Open, Australian Open, Wimbledon and French Open. Combined Masters events such as Miami and Indian Wells also pay the same to both women and men champions.
According to the website bnpparibasopen.com, Indian Wells tournament owner Larry Ellison declared in a statement that Raymond Moore has "decided to step down from his roles as CEO and tournament director effective immediately." Ellison accepted Moore's decision.
Steve Simon, WTA CEO, declared that Moore took the right decision. He added that since 2009 "the BNP Paribas Open has supported the payment of equal prize money to all players."
