By Rudra Biswas

Copyright sportskeeda

Karolina Pliskova recently took umbrage at the rest of her peers on the WTA Tour over the much-talked-about disparity in pay on both men’s and women’s circuits. The former World No. 1 also brought up the Best-of-3 vs Best-of-5 sets argument to insist that some hysterical claims of female players being underpaid may be short-sighted.Pliskova suffered from a serious ankle injury towards the end of her 2024 season, which ultimately required surgery. The Czech was subsequently on the sidelines for nearly a year before she made her return at this week’s WTA 125 tournament in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal.Earlier this week, Karolina Pliskova spoke to a French tabloid about the prize money situation on the women’s tour in light of growing unrest about the differences in incentivization on the ATP and WTA Tours, respectively (all four of the Grand Slams, which come under ITF, pay men’s and women’s singles pros equally).Several other factors, like Fed Cup being abridged to the much more compact BJK Cup, and the fact that men play five sets of tennis at the Majors, were also on the Czech veteran’s mind as she claimed that some female players “complain all the time” about the scheduling despite them receiving many more perks than her generation did.”I think the situation is the same, if not better, than before. I know there was a lot of travel in the past. There was the Fed Cup three times a year, which doesn’t take as long now,” Karolina Pliskova said to WeLoveTennisFrance.”Recently, an older tennis player told me that after the US Open, they went straight to the Davis Cup, which was played in five sets. And the girls? I feel like they complain all the time, but I don’t understand why. They’re also better paid than ever.”There are currently six joint 1000-level events on the ATP and the WTA Tours – Indian Wells Open, Miami Open, Madrid Open, Italian Open, Canadian Open, and Cincinnati Open. The tournament in Indian Wells currently has the smallest difference between the title winners’ prize money in the men’s and women’s singles competitions at $204,008.Karolina Pliskova spent eight weeks as the World No. 1 in 2017Karolina Pliskova lost to Ashleigh Barty in Wimbledon 2021 final | Image Source: GettyKarolina Pliskova was on top of the women’s game a few years ago, reaching two Major finals at the 2016 US Open and 2021 Wimbledon. With 17 singles titles to her name, she was the top-ranked WTA player from July 17, 2017 to September 10, 2017, i.e., eight weeks.The Czech arguably had her best season in 2016, which saw her enjoy her maiden WTA 1000 triumph at the Cincinnati Open. The then-24-year-old carried her rich vein of form into the US Open that year to beat Serena Williams en route to her first-ever runner-up finish at a Grand Slam tournament.The following year, Pliskova secured titles in Brisbane and Doha while also reaching the semifinals in Indian Wells, Miami, and Paris. By virtue of her consistency, she replaced Simona Halep as the new World No. 1 after Wimbledon but soon surrendered the position to Garbine Muguruza.