Hingis warns of tennis tour boycott by women

Switzerland's world number one women's tennis player, Martina Hingis, has warned of a possible boycott by women of this year's major tournaments. She delivered the warning on the eve of the new season.

Switzerland’s world number one women’s tennis player, Martina Hingis, has warned of a possible boycott by women of this year’s major tournaments.

The disparity in prize money between the women’s and men’s tours is a source of major discontent among the women, Hingis said in an interview with the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post newspaper.

Hingis effectively re-opened a debate about prize money parity in tennis shortly before the season gets underway with tournaments in Australia. Hingis and about 60 other players signed a petition last April calling on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) to grant equal prize money in all four Grand Slam tournaments.

“I think we women deserve equal prize money to what men are getting” she told the newspaper. “Presently we get around half, or even less than that, of what the men get, while at the same time the women’s game has improved a lot in recent years.”

Hingis was quoted as saying that anything was possible if the WTA failed to accommodate the women’s demands.

Hingis, 19, was in Hong Kong for an exhibition match before heading off to Australia for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.

From staff and wire reports