Deuce? Why women continue to experience sexism in tennis

What do Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer, Kei Nishikori, Richard Gasquet, and Jo Wilfred Tsonga all have in common? For one they are all members of the world's top ten male tennis players, but they also all have male coaches.

The only member of the top ten men to actually have a female coach is world number two, Andy Murray, who appointed former Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, Amelie Mauresmo, as his coach in June 2014. In appointing Mauresmo as his coach, Murray became one of, if not the only, top ten male tennis player to have a female coach in the history of the sport. It was an appointment to without controversy. Many social media posts made derogatory comments towards Mauresmo and questioned whether a woman could be a successful coach in men's tennis.

Outside the top ten, you'll be hard pressed to find another male with a female coach. In fact world number 65, Mikhail Kukushkin and world number 61, Denis Istomin are the only other males with female coaches that spring to mind; Kukushkin is coached by his wife and Istomin by his mother. Unfortunately on the women's tour, female coaches don't fare much better. The Williams sisters used to be coached partly by their mother but now the only notable players with female coaches are Madison Keys (World No. 18), Ekaterina Makarova (No. 23), Kristina Mladenovic (No. 29), Daria Gavrilova (No. 36), and Madison Brengle (No. 40). Yes and I don't blame you if haven't heard much of them…

The gender inequality does not end there either. Outside of the official ATP and WTA tours, exhibition tournaments widely favour the male players. Take for instance the new FAST4 Tennis that was trialled in Sydney in 2015 and soon to be shown off again in 2016. Promoters unsurprisingly chose Federer to promote the event and placed him against Aussie veteran Lleyton Hewitt. Now I'm Hewitt's number one fan, but considering that he was not a top 100 player at the time a more even match up would have placed Williams or Sharapova against Australia's top female player, Samantha Stosur.

In 2016, the ladies will again miss out playing an exhibition in Sydney. Organisers have chosen retired veterans John McEnroe and Pat Cash along with Hewitt, Nadal, Nick Kyrgios and Gael Monfils. Now surely there was room for two females in that line-up?

Furthermore, in the International Premier Tennis League events to be run across Asia in December, women again miss out on equal treatment. In the team versus team event, there are usually only two females in every team compared to between four and five males. Only one team in the entire IPTL has three female players on their team.

Even television networks have been known to discriminate against female tennis players. For instance, Channel 7 covers all Davis Cup matches that Australia plays in but when it comes to the women's Fed Cup tournament, none of Australia's matches are televised. Furthermore, at the US Open, the women's final has been traditionally played at an earlier timeslot than the men's final, meaning that the men's final get to play on prime time US television, whilst the women do not. Until recently, the women's US Open final was squashed in the middle of two men's semi-finals, where yet again the second men's semi-final received the prime time television spot.

Fortunately, gone are the days when women were frequently prevented from playing on centre court because their male counterparts took precedence. But still women on court are subjected to rather belittling treatment such as when top ten player, Eugene Bouchard was asked to give the audience a twirl at this year's Australian Open. Call me forgetful, but I can't recall a time when Federer was asked to show off his outfit to the crowd.

Fortunately former world number one, Kim Clijsters, could have a good laugh over the fact a male tennis commentator thought she was pregnant because he remarked privately to another commentator "she looks grumpy and her boobs are bigger". That little incident could have turned out to be a lot worse.

Tennis is one of the few sports where men and women are generally considered to be equal, but there is still a long way to go before the gap is fully closed.

Until sponsors start promoting female tennis players for their talents rather than their looks, or event organisers start promoting women's tennis at the same level of enthusiasm they do for men's events, or females are able to coach male tennis players without the media going into a tailspin, then there will remain sexism and gender inequality in tennis.

Serena Williams is the case in point. She is one of the most successful tennis players in the open era yet she is consistently out earned and out promoted by Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova.