Raymond Moore is a former player and the CEO of the BNP Paribas Open tournament.

Tennis icon Billie Jean King said his comments were "wrong on so many levels."

Grand Slam champion Serena Williams also hit back at the sexist remarks.

ASSOCIATED PRESS The Women's Tennis Association has ranked Serena Williams as the world No. 1 in singles on six separate occasions.

The head of a major tennis tournament gave his sport a bad name this weekend after saying that female players should "thank God" for their male counterparts.

"They ride on the coattails of the men," said Raymond Moore, a former player and the CEO of Sunday's BNP Paribas Open. "They don't make any decisions and they are lucky. They are very, very lucky. If I was a lady player, I'd go down every night on my knees and thank god that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport."

Novak Djokovic, the world's top-ranked male player, seemed to echo Moore's sexist sentiments, saying that "maybe we should get awarded more."

"The stats are showing that we have much more spectators on the men's tennis matches," Djokovic said, according to the Guardian. "It has to be fairly distributed."

Djokovic also said he had "tremendous respect" for female players who succeed -- despite "the hormones and different stuff."

Moore later apologized for his remarks, but not before receiving a tremendous amount of backlash from both tennis players and their fans.

"If I could tell you every day how many people say they don’t watch tennis unless they’re watching myself or my sister — I couldn’t even bring up that number," Grand Slam champion Serena Williams said. "We, as women, have come a long way. We shouldn’t have to drop to our knees at any point.”

Disappointed in #RaymondMoore comments. He is wrong on so many levels. Every player, especially the top players, contribute to our success — Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) March 20, 2016

“I think it’s our duty to keep just working hard through whatever comments there is," said former world champion Victoria Azarenka, who bested Williams on Sunday. "We’ve got to rise above that.”

Comments from fans showed Moore and Djokovic were way off-base:

@BillieJeanKing what is he thinking? As an avid fan, I prefer the women's game, points are longer and more strategy. — ADean (@ehartman1975) March 20, 2016

@BenRothenberg pretty true, Serena is the reason and still the only reason why I started and continue to watch and appreciate tennis. — Matthew McGregor (@matthewislife) March 20, 2016

But as sports journalist Ben Rothenberg pointed out, female players don't always compete for the same amount of prize money as men.

Want to support women's tennis today? Pressure the combined events (Cincinnati, Rome, Canada, etc) still failing on equal prize money. — Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) March 20, 2016