Apologetic Djokovic insists he supports equal prize money

World number one Novak Djokovic, who came under severe criticism for making controversial remarks on women's prize money in tennis, has apologised for his comments and insisted that he favours gender equity in prize money.

After defending the Indian Wells title on Sunday, the Serbian sparked a controversy when he suggested that men should get more pay than women because they have more spectators than that of the latter.

Djokovic, who will next play in the Miami Open, said that he never had an issue with equality in gender or sport or other areas of life, adding that everybody deserves more of the wealth distribution from the tournaments, Sport24 reported.

The 11-time Grand Slam champion further said that he was sorry if he had hurt his female colleagues, adding that he has huge respect for his female counterparts.

Djokovic said he had sent messages to Andy Murray, Serena Williams and others who had been critical of his earlier remarks.

He insisted that he never had any intention to offend them or come up with any negative connotations in my statement.