As the debate lingers on about equal pay at the Wimbledon Championships, Bough Digital decided to take a look at who is actually the most popular tennis player in the world and who brings in the most fans (and in that view money). So, the beneath blog post will compare the top ten men Vs the top ten women and this will reveal who is the most popular player, and indeed answer the dubious question of whether equal pay is fair. The rankings were taken from the week beginning June 24th.
Bough Digital have decided to look at three elements to determine the most popular sports person. The statistics will look at the Google Search Volume (global), Facebook Fans, and Twitter Followers for each match-up. Each match consists of three sets:
Google Search Volume (exact match)
Facebook Fans
Twitter Followers
Let the games begin.
|
Search Volume |
Facebook Fans |
Twitter |
Novak Djokovic |
301,000 |
3,080,109 |
2,010,996 |
Serena Williams |
450,000 |
1,529,391 |
3,807,112 |
WINNER |
SW |
SW |
SW |
Match 2: Andy Murray Vs Victoria Azarenka
|
Search Volume |
Facebook Fans |
Twitter |
Andy Murray |
368,000 |
1,240,908 |
1,611,832 |
Victoria Azarenka |
110,000 |
268,949 |
261,727 |
WINNER |
AM |
AM |
AM |
Match 3: Roger Federer Vs Maria Sharapova
|
Search Volume |
Facebook Fans |
Twitter |
Roger Federer |
673,000 |
13,047,432 |
476,243 |
Maria Sharapova |
550,000 |
10,342,773 |
403,556 |
WINNER |
RF |
RF |
RF |
Match 4: David Ferrer Vs Agnieszka Radwanksa
|
Search Volume |
Facebook Fans |
Twitter |
David Ferrer |
49,500 |
78,384 |
471,605 |
Agnieszka Radwanksa |
91 |
196,648 |
N/A |
WINNER |
DF |
AR |
DF |
Match 5: Rafael Nadal Vs Sara Errani
|
Search Volume |
Facebook Fans |
Twitter |
Rafael Nadal |
450,000 |
11,752,339 |
4,632,653 |
Sara Errani |
49,500 |
62,835 |
28,912 |
WINNER |
RN |
RN |
RN |
Match 6: Tomas Berdych Vs Li Na
|
Search Volume |
Facebook Fans |
Twitter |
Tomas Berdych |
27,100 |
37,583 |
21,563 |
Li Na |
40,500 |
84,182 |
N/A |
WINNER |
LN |
LN |
TB |
The Results:
Well, the results are in and it is a crushing blow to female tennis fans everywhere as they are defeated 7-3 by their male counterparts. Despite the defeat, if the pairings were more favourable to the females, they could have just edged out the men; maybe next year. There were good wins from Serena Williams against Novak Djokovic, Caroline Wozniacki against Frenchman Richard Gasquet and for Chinese sensation Li Na against Czech player Tomas Berdych.
However, the crowd’s favourite was match-up number three between arguably the best player ever to walk the planet Roger Federer and the tennis goddess Maria Sharapova. It was really the battle of the heavy-weights (not in body weight), with Federer trumping Sharapova 3 sets to nil, but Maria certainly put up a fight and kept her dignity. However, no-one stood a chance against the Swiss Legend, Mr Federer.