Magazine says Roger Federer owns Slam record, Chris Evert calls them out for ignoring women's tennis
Roger Federer is arguably the greatest men's singles player of all time. With eight Wimbledon Championships and 20 Slams overall, combined with a much-loved personality off the court, Federer is easily the biggest tennis star of the modern era.
In fact, Roger Federer is such a huge global icon that he tops Forbes' list of the world's highest-paid athletes, ahead of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Many believe that Federer has transcended tennis with his achievements and likability, and has become bigger than the sport itself.
But Roger Federer's popularity can sometimes unfairly overshadow the achievements of other legends in the sport - especially in women's tennis.
Recently, the Swiss was interviewed by the Miami Living Magazine when he was down at a Zurich studio to promote his new line of shoes. However, the profile by the magazine kicked up a storm for claiming Roger Federer is the owner of the most Grand Slam titles - when in fact there are multiple women who have won more.
And leading the line of criticism was none other than 18-time Slam champion Chris Evert.
'Please clarify in future' - Evert on Roger Federer post by Miami Living
As they say, nothing goes unnoticed on the internet, least of all on social media. As soon as the profile by Miami Living on Roger Federer was published by a Twitter user, many fans on the platform were quick to point out the incorrect information purported by the magazine.
"Roger Federer holds the historical of 20 Grand Slam singles titles," the magazine wrote. However, their failure to add an important asterisk - that he has won the most Slams in men's tennis only - stuck out like a sore thumb.
Chris Evert was one of the first to call the magazine out for their apparent misogyny. She questioned why they didn't specify "men's tennis" in their statement, given the fact that as many as three women are ahead of Federer in the Slam leaderboard.
While a lot of fans heaped praise on Federer for his prolific record, many others also criticized the magazine for claiming that he has won the most Grand Slams in the history of tennis.
Serena Williams, Margaret Court and Steffi Graf have each won more Major titles than Federer
"When a person, with no knowledge of tennis and/or misogynistically ignores the existence of Margaret Court, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams, they write the headline," a Twitter user remarked about the profile, while also attaching an animated GIF with their message.
While Roger Federer has certainly helped increase the popularity of tennis, his achievements aren't quite in the same league as some of the women's champions yet.
Margaret Court at 24 Major titles leads all tennis players for most Major titles won, and she is followed closely by Serena Williams at 23. The retired Steffi Graf comes in third with a tally of 22 Major titles. And it is hard to imagine Federer will be able to overtake or even equal any of these three ladies, given his age and injury problems.
Women's sport is often relegated to the shadows in mainstream media, but as Evert and others pointed out, we can do a lot better. It doesn't take a lot to recognize the achievements of the women's greats, even if it is just with the addition of the word "men's" while talking about male records.