Men's World No 1 Novak Djokovic on Sunday controversially said that he believes male tennis players should fight for more prize money as "they have much more spectators" than the women. Djokovic made these comments after winning the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Sunday.

Djokovic's comments came soon after Chief Executive Officer of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Raymond Moore, caused some outrage by saying the women's circuit should thank the men. Before the tournament's women's singles final on Sunday, Moore had said that the Women's Tennis Association "rides on the coat-tails of men". He added, "If I was a lady player, I'd go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport. They really have."

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Women's World No 1 Serena Williams, who has 21 Grand Slam titles to her credit, more than any of the famed men's trio Djokovic-Nadal-Federer trio, responded to Moore's comments, saying, "We, as women, have come a long way. We shouldn't have to drop to our knees at any point. In order to make a comment [like Moore did] you have to have history and you have to have facts and you have to know things. I mean, you look at someone like Billie Jean King who opened so many doors for not only women's players but women's athletes in general. I feel like that is such a disservice to her and every female, not only a female athlete, but every woman on this planet that has ever tried to stand up for what they believed in and being proud to be a woman."

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Moore later offered an apology for his comments.

Asked to comment, Djokovic admitted that women tennis players deserved respect and admiration and that he understood the the power and energy advocated by the Women's Tennis Association to ensure equal prize money. He then went on to say, "I think that our men’s tennis world, ATP world, should fight for more because the stats are showing that we have much more spectators on the men’s tennis matches. I think that’s one of the reasons why maybe we should get awarded more. Women should fight for what they think they deserve and we should fight for what we think we deserve."

“As long as it’s like that and there is data and stats available upon who attracts more attention, spectators, who sells more tickets and stuff like that, in relation to that it has to be fairly distributed.” added the Serb.

However, Djokovic quickly tried offset his "men deserve more" comment by showering women players with some awkward compliments. "I have tremendous respect for what women in global sport are doing and achieving. Their bodies are much different to men’s bodies. They have to go through a lot of different things that we don’t have to go through. You know, the hormones and different stuff, we don’t need to go into details. I have great admiration and respect for them to be able to fight on such a high level."