Indian Wells CEO Raymond Moore made incredibly sexist comments on Sunday about women’s professional tennis players, saying that they “ride on the coattails of the men”, and that they should “go down every night on [their] knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were born, because they’ve carried the sport”.
Indian Wells CEO Raymond Moore’s remarks this morning not likely to delight the WTA, its players, or fans: pic.twitter.com/56zSV0SK2X
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) March 20, 2016
Serena Williams fired back with these spot-on comments:
“Obviously, I don’t think any woman should be down on their knees thanking anybody like that,” she said. “I think Venus [Williams], myself, a number of players have been — if I could tell you every day how many people say they don’t watch tennis unless they’re watching myself or my sister, I couldn’t even bring up that number. So I don’t think that is a very accurate statement. I think there is a lot of women out there who are more … are very exciting to watch. I think there are a lot of men out there who are exciting to watch. I think it definitely goes both ways. I think those remarks are very much mistaken and very, very, very inaccurate.”
Williams said she was surprised to hear sexist remarks such as Moore’s these days.
“Yeah, I’m still surprised, especially with me and Venus and all the other women on the tour that’s done well,” she said. “Last year, the women’s final at the US Open sold out well before the men. I’m sorry, did Roger play in that final or Rafa or any man play in that final that was sold out before the men’s final? I think not.”
Tennis legend Billie Jean King also shared her thoughts on Moore’s appalling remarks:
Disappointed in #RaymondMoore comments. He is wrong on so many levels. Every player, especially the top players, contribute to our success — Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) March 20, 2016
Well, just a day later, Indian Wells owner Larry Ellison announced that Moore has resigned as the Indian Wells CEO and as the tournament director of the BNP Paribas Open:
A statement from the owner of the BNP Paribas Open, Larry Ellison, on Raymond Moore’s departure from Indian Wells. pic.twitter.com/KIu2ZhXLXG
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) March 22, 2016
Moore had issued an apology on Sunday, but that wasn’t going to hold much weight for anyone just hours after the sexist comments.
A hasty apology from Raymond Moore, on his “extremely poor taste and erroneous” comments from hours ago. pic.twitter.com/I4u935JRjJ
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) March 20, 2016
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