"We have to do it better" - Coco Gauff names key area women's tennis should focus on to achieve equal pay with men

Coco Gauff has picked one key area of investment that would help women achieve equal pay with men in tennis.

Gauff is currently in the Middle East gearing up to take part in the Dubai Tennis Championships, one of the WTA competitions that has an equal pay policy. It became the first tournament outside of the Majors to do so when they made the change in 2005.

Last year, the WTA announced a plan to achieve pay parity at its biggest tournaments by 2033. The plan included all tournaments at the WTA 500 and 1000 levels, featuring both men and women, paying players equally by 2027..

Speaking on the topic at a press conference in Dubai, Gauff said that while women's tennis increasingly continues to attract fans, there could be an improvement in marketing it.

“The most important thing in most sports in the world is that people see men more than women. I think we continue to attract fans, the problem comes when it comes to marketing our women's sports, we have to do it better. In the last two years I feel that investment in this marketing has grown and, therefore, there has been more observation capacity,” she said. (via puntodebreak)

The World No. 3 believes that equal pay can be achieved with continued investment in marketing women's tennis.

“If we continue investing, I am sure that profits will increase and we will be able to have the same remuneration as men. Luckily in the Grand Slams we have the same salaries, I hope it can be transferred to other sports,” she added.

Coco Gauff recently suggested tennis take a leaf out of basketball by introducing men vs women duels, similar to the maiden NBA vs WNBA 3-point contest at the NBA All-Star Weekend.

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"Here we play in strange conditions" - Coco Gauff ahead of her Dubai Tennis Championships campaign

After starting the year by defending her ASB Classic title in Auckland and reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open, Coco Gauff suffered a shock result at the Qatar Open.

She began her campaign in Doha by facing Katerina Siniakova, who won 6-2, 6-4 thereby handing the American an opening-round exit. Gauff, however, has stated that she has moved on from that disappointing result.

“It's not that I was too bothered by the last loss, it was just a bad day at the office, I won't let that define how things are going to go for me this week. In Doha I lost in the first match because I didn't play that well, maybe if I had played better and still lost, it would be different,” she said.

The 19-year-old also spoke about making the transition from Doha to Dubai and touched upon the differences in conditions.

“Here we play in strange conditions, I would say the track is faster than last year. Apart from that, it is true that many times it is very windy, but there has never been as much wind as there is in Florida, for example. Although both are in the desert, Doha is different. Especially because it is played very early, even though it is already night in Doha. From this perspective it is a little more difficult to make the transition,” she opined.

Coco Gauff, who is seeded third at the Dubai Tennis Championships, will take on Italian lucky loser Elisabetta Cocciaretto on Tuesday, February 20.