SportsLine wire reports

LONDON -- British sixth seed Tim Henman stirred up the equal pay controversy at Wimbledon on Monday when he branded women players "greedy."

Henman said women should address the disparity in pay between their own Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour tournaments and Grand Slams before worrying about what they are paid compared to the men.

The WTA is angry that women are paid 83 percent of what men play for in singles at Wimbledon, and the Guardian newspaper reported the players would stage a protest here.

Sources at the WTA said top women players had discussed the issue at the Eastbourne tournament last week but were not planning to stage an organized protest at Wimbledon.

They said players had been handed t-shirts, jewellery and pins with a logo of a tennis ball containing equal signs to press their point for equal treatment at the four Grand Slams.

SIXTH SEED VENUS WILLIAMS, after a convincing first round victory,came out in full support of equality.

The 19-year-old who has won more than $3 million in her short career -- more than $800,000 this year alone -- said : "I totally am in favour of equal pay - I think the ladies work equally hard and play equally hard and I will definitely work towards it with the Tour."

Russia's Anna Kournikova, inserted as 17th seed when Venus's sister Serena withdrew through illness, was a little less emphatic, though. "If other tournaments offer equal pay then why not here," she said.

"Although they do play best-of-five sets and we only play best-of-three... we get better ratings on the TV and stuff - it's hard to say."

Women believe that the personalities and rivalries on their tour are attracting as many spectators as the men, and they should therefore be paid as much at the four Grand Slams.

Germany's Steffi Graf, who has won more than $21 miilion during her illustrious career, was not at all comfortable talking about pay.

"I think I haven't thought enough about it," she said. "Actually, that's a lie - I don't want to get involved in that right now."

THE U.S. OPEN IS THE ONLY Grand Slam which pays equally. At the Australian Open the women receive 94 percent of the men's prize money and at the French Open they are paid 90 percent.

Venus Williams believes the women players deserve to be paid equally to men.(AP)

But it was left to Henman to give the men's view. When asked if he supported the women's campaign British sixth seed Tim Henman said: "In a word, no.

"I think they should worry about getting their own tournaments at a bigger and better level and then worry about the Grand Slams.

"I think the comparison there (between regular tour prize money and Grand Slam prize money) is absolutely enormous so I think then if they are still saying they want more in the Grand Slams I think they're probably getting a bit greedy.

"You look at the prize money levels on the men's tour and then compare those with the Grand Slams from the men's side and there is still a big difference.

"But I think that the women's tour is probably, I don't know exactly, but they're probably playing for a pittance week in week out.

"That's where they should be trying to get more money for themselves - because I think they deserve it at that level. Their game is very exciting at the moment."

World No. 1 Pete Sampras wanted nothing to do with the debate. "You're asking the wrong guy - that's a no comment," was all he would say.

COPYRIGHT 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.