This move comes after Iga Swiatek won the women’s competition last year, and with it, 332,260 euros ($364,000) in prize money. This is less than half of the 836,355 euros ($916,000) that Novak Djokovic was paid for winning the men’s tournament.

“For the first time in history, we have started the process that over three years will lead to equal prize money between the women’s and the men’s tournaments,” Italian tennis federation president Angelo Binaghi stated during the presentation for this year’s event on Tuesday. “We’re talking about 8 million euros (nearly $9 million) for each event.”

Billie Jean King often explained that her reason for moving to form the women’s pro circuit was due to the pay discrepancy. King won $600 for her 1970 Italian Open title, while Ilie Nastase was awarded $3,500 for winning the men’s event that same year.

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Djokovic delivered a dominant outing at the tournament, dropping just one set on his way to Finals. There, the 33-year-old Serbian faced No. 15 ranked Diego Schwartzman and proceeded to secure an easy 7-5, 6-3 win.

“I never had an issue in my life to move on from something,” said Djokovic after the tournament, referring to his ejection from US Open. “Regardless how difficult it is I try to take the next day and hope for the best and move on.”

“Having a tournament a week after that happened helped a lot … just because I really wanted to get on the court and just get whatever traces of that – if there’s any – out, and I think I had a really good week,” he added.

In Women’s singles, Simona Halep secured her first Italian Open title. Halep faced Karolina Pliskova in the finals and won the first set 6-0 before her opponent decided to retire from the match due to thigh injury.

”In 2013, here I started to (reach) the top of world tennis,” said Halep. ”Since then I started to play really well and finally, after two finals, I could win this title.”

The post Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep Win 2020 Italian Open appeared first on yoursportspot.com.

Nadal defeated Djokovic 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 in Rome to win his second straight title at the clay court event. It was easy going for Nadal in what was an atypically poor performance by Djokovic.

It was the 54th time that Nadal and Djokovic had faced off in an ATP Tour event, and the Spaniard got the best of the Serbian this time. In fact, with his 6-0 win over Djokovic in the first set, Nadal achieved the first ever ¨bagel set¨of his career against his long-time rival.

This Italian Open win is the ninth of Nadal’s storied career. It helped him get over a hump in which he had seen himself fall in the semi-finals of three consecutive clay court tournaments, which are usually his specialty.

The Italian Open is often considered a ¨warm up¨ for the clay-court Grand Slam tournament French Open, which begins this weekend. Nadal will look to repeat at Roland Garros after his win in the tournament last season.

This victory in Rome gives him much-needed confidence before his title defense begins in Paris on May 26th.

The post Rafael Nadal Beats Novak Djokovic to Win Italian Open appeared first on yoursportspot.com.

This move comes after Iga Swiatek won the women’s competition last year, and with it, 332,260 euros ($364,000) in prize money. This is less than half of the 836,355 euros ($916,000) that Novak Djokovic was paid for winning the men’s tournament.

“For the first time in history, we have started the process that over three years will lead to equal prize money between the women’s and the men’s tournaments,” Italian tennis federation president Angelo Binaghi stated during the presentation for this year’s event on Tuesday. “We’re talking about 8 million euros (nearly $9 million) for each event.”

Billie Jean King often explained that her reason for moving to form the women’s pro circuit was due to the pay discrepancy. King won $600 for her 1970 Italian Open title, while Ilie Nastase was awarded $3,500 for winning the men’s event that same year.

The post Italian Open to Award Equal Prize Money to Women and Men appeared first on yoursportspot.com.

Djokovic delivered a dominant outing at the tournament, dropping just one set on his way to Finals. There, the 33-year-old Serbian faced No. 15 ranked Diego Schwartzman and proceeded to secure an easy 7-5, 6-3 win.

“I never had an issue in my life to move on from something,” said Djokovic after the tournament, referring to his ejection from US Open. “Regardless how difficult it is I try to take the next day and hope for the best and move on.”

“Having a tournament a week after that happened helped a lot … just because I really wanted to get on the court and just get whatever traces of that – if there’s any – out, and I think I had a really good week,” he added.

In Women’s singles, Simona Halep secured her first Italian Open title. Halep faced Karolina Pliskova in the finals and won the first set 6-0 before her opponent decided to retire from the match due to thigh injury.

”In 2013, here I started to (reach) the top of world tennis,” said Halep. ”Since then I started to play really well and finally, after two finals, I could win this title.”

The post Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep Win 2020 Italian Open appeared first on yoursportspot.com.

Nadal defeated Djokovic 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 in Rome to win his second straight title at the clay court event. It was easy going for Nadal in what was an atypically poor performance by Djokovic.

It was the 54th time that Nadal and Djokovic had faced off in an ATP Tour event, and the Spaniard got the best of the Serbian this time. In fact, with his 6-0 win over Djokovic in the first set, Nadal achieved the first ever ¨bagel set¨of his career against his long-time rival.

This Italian Open win is the ninth of Nadal’s storied career. It helped him get over a hump in which he had seen himself fall in the semi-finals of three consecutive clay court tournaments, which are usually his specialty.

The Italian Open is often considered a ¨warm up¨ for the clay-court Grand Slam tournament French Open, which begins this weekend. Nadal will look to repeat at Roland Garros after his win in the tournament last season.

This victory in Rome gives him much-needed confidence before his title defense begins in Paris on May 26th.

The post Rafael Nadal Beats Novak Djokovic to Win Italian Open appeared first on yoursportspot.com.