World tennis number 1 Novak Djokovic has been pretty vocal about the pay gap between ATP and WTA. This pay gap has never been more evident than during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the top 100 players earn enough to make it through the tough times,  the lower-ranked players have struggled to sustain themselves. 

The Professional Tennis Players Association(PTPA) has highlighted the acuteness of the gulf in tennis and other elite sports. Founded by Djokovic himself, it is a players-only organisation. The main aim of PTPA is to raise the voice of various players that was silent at the ATP. It was started at the US Open last year. The members aim to have a say in the various decisions taken by the governing bodies of tennis and the tournaments.

PTPA has come out with a graph that compares the average salary of players ranked between 301 to 400 against the various elite sports in the world. According to the graph, players in the National Hockey League (NHL) lead the way with an average salary of $2,180,530. 

The silver medal in this regard goes to Major League Baseball (MLB), where an average player earns a salary of $2,143,460. Then in a distant third is the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA), whose 301-400 ranked players’ average salary is close to the 10% of NHL and MLB at $231,090.

Now coming to the real point of the graph, the average salary of ATP players ranked 301-400 stands at a measly $56,760. This figure stands nowhere when compared to the millions of MLB and NHL.

WTA players have it worse, with their average salary being $34,420.