Novak Djokovic earning double Coco Gauff ‘is outrageous’… tennis fans split over pay row as it emerges men’s Cincinnati winner made $1m – more than TWICE the female champion

Tennis fans are divided after it emerged Novak Djokovic won more than double Coco Gauff’s prize money after both won in Cincinnati last week.

Djokovic defeated world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in a thrilling final on Sunday to lift the Western & Southern Open trophy.

Earlier on Sunday, Gauff beat Karolina Muchova 6-3, 6-4 to claim her first WTA 1000 title – and her second hard-court tournament of the summer.

The 19-year-old’s reward for becoming the youngest champion in event history was $454,500. Djokovic, meanwhile, will receive $1,019,335 for winning the ATP 1000 crown.

This is despite the fact that they both play at the same venue and both play three-set matches.

Earlier, American Coco Gauff defeated Karolina Muchova to claim a maiden WTA 1000 title

When this “outrageous” disparity was reported on social media, several fans suggested it was bad for the game and proof of the persistence of gender inequality in sport.

‘B***s****,’ one wrote. ‘This must stop. That’s what they call ‘bad for tennis’.’

“That’s grand larceny!” another argued. “That’s over 1/2 MILLION ($564,835) LESS for Coco Gauff. That’s bad enough (to) make (you) sick.

A supporter added: “Outrageous. This shows how far equality for women’s sport still has to travel.

But many other fans responded to the suggestion that male and female players should automatically earn the same amount.

Instead, they argued, prize money is determined by commercial considerations such as viewership.

“The men’s raffle sold A LOT more tickets than the women’s raffle,” said one fan. “The market pays a lot more money and wants to watch men’s tennis more than women’s tennis. It’s really basic economics: if you generate more, you should get paid (sic) more (like in n’ any other work).

Djokovic rips his jersey to celebrate his three-set epic against rival Carlos Alcaraz

Gauff’s reward for becoming the youngest champion in event history was $454,500

Another supporter said: ‘It all depends on total viewership and ad revenue.’ You know that and you could do something constructive and promote the WTA, but you’d rather just make a scene about it.

Some fans argued that the difference simply proved, as one fan wrote, “the men’s game is a BETTER product.”

However, another fan suggested that the income and eyeball arguments are a red herring designed to justify a gender pay gap.

“People still want to use viewership, popularity and ticket sales as if Coco weren’t religiously packing her booths,” they wrote. “The prize money is already predetermined and is based on who has a penis and who doesn’t.”