On the eve of the men’s final at the French Open in Paris, where the reigning 10-time champion Rafael Nadal is slated to meet with Dominic Thiem, an interview that apparently Rafa gave to an Italian magazine, made news for a different reason.

When asked if men and women players should get equal pay, he replied: “It’s a comparison we shouldn’t even make. Female models earn more than male models and nobody says anything. Why? Because they have a larger following. In tennis too, who gathers a larger audience earns more,”

This once again has triggered a longstanding debate in the tennis world, that has not yet found a way to solve this sticky conundrum. John McEnroe said something similar in the 80s, and so did Novak Djokovic last year.

At this issue’s core, are two important factors, one being the principle of “equal work, equal pay” and the other being the business model, where prize money is presumably being determined based on whether men or women players, are attracting larger crowds and revenues.

Some argue that since men play 5-set matches that are longer in duration (compared to the 3-set matches that women play), they are giving the fans, more tennis for their money, and therefore they invoke the ‘equal work, equal pay’ principle and insist that men should get paid more. “Let the women play 5-set matches and earn equal pay” goes their argument. Additionally, they also argue that since men’s tennis draws more fans, ticket sales, sponsors, and merchandise sales, they should naturally earn more. In their view, there is no gender discrimination, and they feel that this compensation model is the result of simple logic and math.

This debate nose-dived last year when Raymond Moore, the CEO of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in California, said that the women tennis players ride on the “coattails of the men” adding a comment saying “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.” Needless to say, these controversial remarks caused quite an uproar and Raymond Moore apologized later. While many agree that the statement may have been in poor taste, some of them also feel that it probably reveals the harsh reality of the flow of money in the sport, which is perhaps directly responsible for the manner in which the players’ compensation is structured.

However, those who believe that women players should get equal pay, claim as they did in this Time magazine article, that women work just as hard as men, contest some myths about viewership and even claim that the women’s matches get more viewership than the men’s matches, compare the pay in Tennis with other sports that apparently pay men and women equally, and lament about the vicious cycle of various factors, that affect women’s sport in general, and make their case for equal pay in Tennis.

This issue has been a tough one to resolve for quite some time now. Men and women are equal and should be treated equally. There is also the hard reality of business, where money commands its own logic and dictates its own flow.

Tennis fans are hoping that players, sponsors, administrators and governing bodies, sit down together to discuss equitable compensation models and arrive at a win-win solution, that resolves this issue in the best possible manner.