Martina Navratilova says John McEnroe, a seven-time Grand Slam winner, was paid at least “10 times more” than she was for their Wimbledon commentating roles.
Navratilova said she makes £15,000 ($21,000) covering Wimbledon, while McEnroe makes “at least £150,000 ($210,000),” she said.
“Unless John McEnroe’s doing a whole bunch of stuff outside of Wimbledon, he’s getting at least 10 times as much money as I am for very comparable work,” Navratilova said to BBC Panorama.
And she’s “not happy” about that. Navratilova knows this is just a two-week gig for her, but extrapolate that for women working full-time for the BBC, and she’s “angry.”
“It’s extremely unfair and it makes me angry for the other women that I think go through this,” Navratilova said.
The BBC did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for its statement on McEnroe’s pay versus Navratilova’s. However, on the BBC News website, the company says the two commentators are on different contracts and that Navratilova appears less than McEnroe does.
“Ten times as much? I don’t think so,” Navratilova said in response.
“John and Martina perform different roles in the team, and John’s role is of a different scale, scope and time commitment,” BBC Sports said in a statement to the New York Post. “They are simply not comparable. John’s pay reflects all of this; gender isn’t a factor.”
According to the New York Post, Navratilova made 10 appearances for the BBC at last year’s tournament, while McEnroe made 30. Both McEnroe and Navratilova retired from professional tennis in 2006. McEnroe earned between $210,000 and $281,000 when the BBC revealed the top salaries of players last year.
Watch the video here. The interview airs tonight on BBC One as part of an investigation into the gender pay gap in Britain.