"The girls don't work from 4 am in a mine" - Daniela Hantuchova blasts WTA players for prize money complaints amid Maria Sharapova's contrary claims

Contrary to Maria Sharapova, Daniela Hantuchova recently spoke up against the WTA players complaining about the prize money disparity in tennis.

Several former and active women tennis players, including Venus and Serena Williams, and Maria Sharapova, have protested against the sharp difference in prize money awarded to the men and women on the ATP and the WTA tour, respectively.

Former World No. 5 Daniela Hantuchova, however, is in disagreement with the view as per her statements on the Livesport Daily podcast. The Slovak admitted that the low earnings are ‘difficult,’ but maintained that the women should be thankful to the tournaments.

"It feels a bit like spoiling. Especially on the women's circuit, where the prize money is what it is, and the girls certainly don't work from [four in the morning] in a mine somewhere. It's difficult, but we never allowed ourselves to criticize because we knew that the checks we were getting were thanks to the tournament," she said (translated from Czech, obtained from tenisportal.cz)

Daniela Hantuchova, meanwhile, sided with the women when it came to their rising concerns over the hectic time schedule. The seven-time WTA title holder opined that tennis is the ‘most demanding sport’ and revealed that the frequent traveling was one of the reasons she retired from the sport in 2017.

"Regarding travel and the destinations in which WTA tournaments are played, on the contrary, I agree with the players. From this point of view, tennis is the most demanding sport that exists. For me personally, it was one of the reasons I quit,” she said on the podcast.

“The body could no longer handle the time differences, I kept waking up out of the normal rhythm, it was unhealthy. I told myself that it wasn't even worth the money, that I'd rather be well at 60. It was over the edge,” she added.

"The disparity is insane" – Maria Sharapova advocates equal prize money as opposed to Daniela Hantuchova

While Daniela Hantuchova opined that the women should accept the prize money conditions, Maria Sharapova recently stated that the gender pay gap issue should be brought to the forefront.

In the interview, which was conducted on October 12, the former World No. 1 highlighted the stark difference in the checks received by the men’s champion at the Masters 1000 event in Shanghai and the women’s champion at the WTA 500 event in Zhengzhou.

"Just this week, there’s a men’s tournament actually still happening in Shanghai with the winner’s prize check of $1.2 million. In the same week, there’s a women’s tournament in China with the winner’s check at $120,000," Maria Sharapova said during her Bloomberg Screentime conference with Jason Kelly.

Maria Sharapova further said that while the tennis community is celebrating the ITF-run Grand Slams’ equal prize money policy, emphasis should be given to the WTA tour as well, where several players struggle to break even.

"I don't know if anyone's familiar with those numbers but you go to a Grand Slam and we are celebrating equal prize money. Great. Those are the biggest events with the biggest attention, media, and the buzz. But then the rest of the tour which is the eight or nine other months is there. The disparity is insane and that needs to be addressed," she added.