Rafael Nadal was previously quizzed on the issue of equal pay in professional tennis (Image: EL OBJETIVO)

Rafael Nadal believes female tennis players should only be paid as much as their male counterparts if they generate the same level of interest and income. The gender pay gap in professional tennis continues to be hotly debated, with some tournaments giving out a lower amount of prize money in women’s categories.

Equal pay at the US Open came into effect in 1973 after Billie Jean King threatened to boycott the event unless the pay gap was bridged. It took 28 years for the Australian Open to follow suit in 2001, with the French Open and Wimbledon doing the same in 2007 meaning all four Grand Slam events offer equal prize money.

However, some ATP events are yet to bridge the gap despite growing calls for pay equity. At last year’s Cincinnati Open, the final warm-up event before the US Open, men’s champion Jannik Sinner received £832,830 while Aryna Sabalenka took home £415,427 for winning the women’s event.

Nadal believes there should only be equal pay if women generate the same level of interest (Image: GETTY)

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In a previous interview with El Objetivo, Nadal was asked for his thoughts on the gender pay gap and suggested that while equal opportunity is important, women should only be paid the same as men if they generate the same level of interest.

“What I am not is hypocritical,” said Nadal. “What I don’t like to be in the end is to be hypocritical and say things that are easy for me to say. Opportunities [should be] the same. Salaries the same? No. This is not unfair.

“What is unfair is that there are no equal opportunities. I mean, if you ask me if I am a feminist, I will tell you. If you tell me that a feminist is to believe that a man and a woman deserve exactly the same opportunities, I am a feminist. But you know, this term is taken to an extreme.

“In this conversation we talk about logical things and normal things. Of course I want equality. Equality does not lie for me in giving away. Equality lies in the fact that if Serena Williams generates more than me, I want Serena to win more than me.

“If she is filling the stadiums and is more important and lives in a country where the United States is and that the potential is greater than in Spain, I don’t want to, for being Rafael Nadal, win more than Serena Williams.

“If I want equality, I want women to earn more than men if they actually generate more than men.”