Serena Williams added yet another win to her belt securing her place at the Wimbledon final. Despite this victory, Williams still had to set reporters straight on her contribution to sports as an athlete and equal pay at a press conference, transcribed by SI, following her semifinals win.
Rather than being referred to as the “one of the greatest female athletes of all time,” Williams believes her athleticism transcends gender and prefers to simply be revered as “one of the greatest athletes of all time” – see the difference?
She also shut down a reporter who asked, “Can I touch on the subject of equal prize money? Your match today was very quick compared to, say, the five-setters yesterday of the men. There’s some talk on social media again about equal prize money. Do the women deserve equal prize money?”
Serena Williams is Now the World’s Highest Paid Female Athlete
To which she replied, “Yeah, I think we deserve equal prize money. Yeah, absolutely,” before posing the same question back at the reporter. “I mean, if you happen to write a short article,” asked Williams, “you think you don’t deserve equal pay as your beautiful colleague behind you?”
“I would like to see people, the public, the press, other athletes in general, just realize and respect women for who we are and what we are and what we do,” she said. “I don’t think I would deserve to be paid less because of my sex, or anyone else for that matter in any job.”
A win in the Wimbledon final for Serena Williams, against Angelique Kerber, would earn her a 22nd Grand Slam title.
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