Sergiy Stakhovsky has waded into a twitter debate with Andy Murray after the British No.1 mentioned the Ukrainian in regard to the equal pay debate.
Murray, speaking to The Guardian, said ” if Serena is playing on centre court and you have a men’s match with Stakhovsky playing, people are coming to watch Serena“. After Murray mentioned him by name, Stakhovsky started a twitter conversation, comparing the situation to some American university graduate pay statistics.
@andy_murray long story.Thanks for mentioning me with tday😂need some attention.. Although ur argument fails the moment we leave UK territory
— Sergiy Stakhovsky (@Stako_tennis) March 23, 2016
Stakhosvky then tweeted an excerpt from a Forbes article comparing the difference in pay structure for law graduates from certain American universities. Murray then drew on a previous encounter between the two men in a Davis Cup match in Ukraine in 2006.
@Stako_tennis I played you in a Davis cup match in Ukraine and there must have been a thousand people there max!
— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) March 23, 2016
Andy Murray has previous in terms of encounters with other tour members, having had a spat with Lukas Rosol in 2015. Murray has come out as a vocal supporter for equal pay in tournaments for some time now, and also called out World No. 1 Novak Djokovic for comments he made at the weekend on the topic.
Stakhovsky himself is not stranger to controversy, having made comments regarding Eugenie Bouchard last year.
Stakhovsky was absent for the ATP Masters event in Indian Wells, but is playing in Miami, where he will start against Chilean wildcard Nicolas Jarry. Murray is also in action, and as the second seed enjoys a first round bye. He will face the winner of Denis Istomin and Borna Coric in the second-round.
