Andy Murray and Ukrainian tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky have got into a war of words on Twitter over the equal-pay debate in the sport.
Indian Wells chief executive Raymond Moore stoked the fire earlier this week by claiming that female tennis players should be grateful for the success of the men's game, and he later stepped down after apologising for his comments.
World number one Novak Djokovic added to the controversy when he suggested that men should win more prize money than women because he and his fellow male players attract more spectators.
Murray publicly disagreed with Djokovic by claiming that he is "100%" behind equal pay in tennis, and the British number one has now criticised Stakhovsky, who has been a long-running critic of women receiving the same amount of money as the sport's men.
Murray tweeted that a lot more people would watch a match at Wimbledon involving Laura Robson than the Ukrainian, to which Stakhovsky replied: "Thanks for mentioning me today. Need some attention. Although your argument fails the moment we leave UK territory."
Murray responded: "As soon as we leave UK territory more people are watching you than Laura? Really?"
Stakhovsky replied: "The venue in Kiev is ready. All you need to do is convince Laura to come."
The Scotsman then mentioned the 2006 Davis Cup match between the two, which ended in a victory for Murray.
"I played you in a Davis Cup match in Ukraine and there must have been a thousand people there max!"
Yesterday, Djokovic clarified his comments by insisting that he wants fairer pay and distribution for both male and female tennis players.
Danielle Joynson
