My old friend and one-time doubles partner Ray Moore have stepped down as chief executive of the Indian Wells Tennis Tournament for telling the truth. As Rod Liddle wrote in The Spectator a couple of weeks ago, “There is nothing more damaging to a career than telling an unfortunate truth.” Ray Moore was a very good South African tennis player and is a very nice guy. He once partnered me to a final in a major tournament and we have stayed friends for forty years and more. The man who owns the Indian Wells tournament, multi-billionaire Larry Ellison, is a pretty disgusting individual, who among many other horrors has also managed to ruin the America’s Cup by introducing ugly, mosquito-like high-tech catamarans, as likely to be sailed by the normal sailor as one is to swim up Niagara Falls.
All poor Ray did was say that women tennis players have ridden on the coattails of the men. Judging by the reactions—especially by the egregious New York Times—he might as well have said that male tennis players are better than the women. Moore apologized immediately following his outburst, but he was a goner. The first to attack was Martina Navratilova, a great player in her time, but one who would not have filled a small room with admirers because of her overt lesbianism in an era when men and women athletes were advised to keep their sexual proclivities to themselves.
At present, of course, being a lesbian is a plus, especially in sport and in Hollywood. All poor Ray Moore did was remind us that men are the big draws in tennis, and it’s because of people like Federer and Nadal that women take home very large checks, which they don’t earn on a level playing field. A level playing field and equal pay would be if women competed against men as well as women, and played best of five in Grand Slams. And before I forget, a man ranked 500 or even 1,000 will win Wimbledon every time if allowed to play against women. These truths we hold to be universal, at least for those of us who have played on the tennis tour, but try telling this to the moronic whiners who make a living by perennial outrage.
