Martina Navratilova to work at Wimbledon despite BBC gender pay row

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 09: Martina Navratilova and Julia Lemigova watch on as Serena Williams of The United States and Angelique Kerber of Germany play in the Ladies Singles Final match on day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 9, 2016 in London, England.
Matina Navratilova, left, pictured at Wimbledon in 2016 Credit: Getty Images

Veteran tennis star Martina Navratilova has announced that she will be working at Wimbledon this year, after hitting out at the BBC over differences in pay between her and male pundit John McEnroe.

The 61-year-old said in a tweet that she was "very happy" to reveal the news, adding that it was "good to see the BBC taking gender pay equality seriously".

Martina Navratilova, pictured in 1992, was nine-time winner of Wimbledon. Credit: KAI-UWE WAERNER/AFP/Getty Images

She told the BBC’s Panorama in March that she was shocked to discover that co-pundit John McEnroe was paid “at least ten times as much as her”, with a salary of between £150,000 and £199,999.

At the time, the BBC said the roles performed by McEnroe and Navratilova were "simply not comparable", adding: "John and Martina perform different roles in the team, and John's role is of a different scale, scope and time commitment... John's pay reflects all of this - gender isn't a factor."

Ms Navratilova said that her agent would ask for more money in future.

Yesterday her agent, Mary Greenham, told The Sunday Telegraph that while “the detail remains confidential...it’s really encouraging to see the BBC lead the way in addressing gender pay inequality, and I am delighted that Martina is working at Wimbledon again for the BBC”.

The BBC's China Editor Carrie Gracie resigned in January after the revelation that male international editors Jon Sopel and Jeremy Bowen were paid significantly more. Credit: PA/Dominic Lipinski

“I am a firm believer in the BBC and I know that lots of extremely hard work, and I know a lot of extremely hard work is going on behind the scenes to get this right,” she added.

The BBC said that it does not comment on individuals’ contracts.

Disparity in men and women’s salaries at the BBC were revealed in July 2017, leading female stars to publish an open letter to Tony Hall, the BBC’s Director General, demanding pay equality. Carrie Gracie, China Editor, resigned in protest of gender pay differences.

Wimbledon 2018 begins on July 2.