Madrid Open owner Ion Tiriac sparked outrage yesterday after not only indicating that male players deserve to be paid more than their female counterparts but then admitting that he prefers women on the court because they are “elegant” and “beautiful.”

The equality debate was reignited in March by grotesque comments from Indian Wells tournament director Raymond Moore about female players “riding on the coat-tails” of the men.

Moore had no option but to resign but the issue has continued to bubble under the surface.

Madrid and Indian Wells are two of three major tournaments outside the grand slams along with Miami that pay equal prize money.

Tiriac, described as a flamboyant Romanian and former top-10 player, may be heading towards the exit doors after causing Moore-like controversy by referencing the length of female players’ legs while trying to insist it was about economics.

He said: “I like, very much more, women than men. All my life, I’ve done that. The longer the legs theirs are, the more beautiful I think they are. Even in tennis, they’re gracious and so on.

“But I think we have to go and calculate how much money are the men putting on the table, and how much the women, with TV rights.

“Because otherwise we have to compensate, and compensate, and compensate, and you cannot compensate forever.

“For that reason, it’s a beautiful sport, but I don’t think the women can complain that they don’t earn enough money.”

Tiriac said he was in negotiations with both tours but would struggle to pay equal prize money if he bowed to the demands of the ATP, the men’s tour.

He said: “If I increase the women’s too, I am broke. Saying that they’re equal — they’re not equal. I mean, once again, I prefer a woman on the court, they are beautiful on the court.

“Even Federer, who is very elegant, I prefer an elegant woman, not Mr Federer.

“But they are not bringing to the table the same thing.”