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.

The Statistics

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.

Match 1: Novak Djokovic Vs Serena Williams

	Search Volume	Facebook Fans	Twitter Followers
Novak Djokovic	301,000	3,080,109	2,010,996
Serena Williams	450,000	1,529,391	3,807,112
WINNER	SW	SW	SW

WINNER: Serena Williams

Match 2: Andy Murray Vs Victoria Azarenka

	Search Volume	Facebook Fans	Twitter Followers
Andy Murray	368,000	1,240,908	1,611,832
Victoria Azarenka	110,000	268,949	261,727
WINNER	AM	AM	AM

WINNER: Andy Murray

Match 3: Roger Federer Vs Maria Sharapova

	Search Volume	Facebook Fans	Twitter Followers
Roger Federer	673,000	13,047,432	476,243
Maria Sharapova	550,000	10,342,773	403,556
WINNER	RF	RF	RF

WINNER: Roger Federer

Match 4: David Ferrer Vs Agnieszka Radwanksa

	Search Volume	Facebook Fans	Twitter Followers
David Ferrer	49,500	78,384	471,605
Agnieszka Radwanksa	91	196,648	N/A
WINNER	DF	AR	DF

WINNER: David Ferrer

Match 5: Rafael Nadal Vs Sara Errani

	Search Volume	Facebook Fans	Twitter Followers
Rafael Nadal	450,000	11,752,339	4,632,653
Sara Errani	49,500	62,835	28,912
WINNER	RN	RN	RN

WINNER: Rafael Nadal

Match 6: Tomas Berdych Vs Li Na

	Search Volume	Facebook Fans	Twitter Followers
Tomas Berdych	27,100	37,583	21,563
Li Na	40,500	84,182	N/A
WINNER	LN	LN	TB

WINNER: Stanislas Wawrinka

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.