Martina Navratilova was “angry” and felt let down by the BBC today after learning that John McEnroe gets paid at least 10 times more than her for their broadcasting roles at Wimbledon.

In a list of the BBC highest-paid workers published last year, it was revealed that McEnroe earned between £150,000-£199,999 for working at Wimbledon.

Navratilova said she gets paid £15,000.

Navratilova, a nine-time singles champion at the All England Club, said she was told by the BBC that she earns a “comparable amount, so … we were not told the truth.

“It’s extremely unfair and it makes me angry for the other women that I think go through this,” Navratilova told Panorama: Britain’s Equal Pay Scandal, which was aired last night.

The BBC responded to Navratilova’s comments by saying that, as an “occasional contributor,” she appears on fewer broadcasts and is on a different type of contract than McEnroe.

“John and Martina perform different roles in the team and John’s role is of a different scale, scope and time commitment,” the BBC said in a statement. “They are simply not comparable.”

The corporation said that, while Navratilova is paid per appearance, has a fixed volume of work and has no contractual commitment, McEnroe is on call for the entire 13 days of the tournament, has a larger breadth of work, including radio and publicity, and has a contract that means he cannot work for another British broadcaster without BBC permission.

“He is a defining voice within the BBC coverage,” the BBC claimed.

“He is widely considered to be the best expert/commentator in the sport, highly valued by our audiences … His pay reflects all of this. Gender isn’t a factor.”

Navratilova said her agent will ask for more money in future to work for the BBC.

The gender pay gap at the BBC has been a talking point since the salaries of top BBC talent were revealed last year. A review commissioned by the BBC found a 6.8 per cent gender pay gap but “no evidence of gender bias in pay decision-making.”