Hopefully the woman never go to the boring men's five sets. Too much of a good thing. If it is no settled in three sets, who cares? Too hard on the bodies of the top tennis players.
By the way how many times does the man behind two to one win in five?
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Although it will never change, playing best of 5 in Men’s Singles where matches lasting 4+ hours is grueling for the players and too long for the fans. The eventual Men’s Champion could potentially play 35 sets over a period of 2 weeks, plus tie breakers.
"A third shorter for women"? Three sets is two-fifths shorter than 5 sets!!
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@RogerR Nice arithmetic. By the way do you have data which shows how many men wind up winning after being down two games to one?
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I think the whole argument is framed incorrectly. The more sets played comment is easy to make but I think the better argument is based on economics.
WNBA players make far less than NBA players. The reason is a function of demand. More people demand the NBA than the WNBA which results in increased revenues. If that same is true in tennis (and I think it is), then men should receive more money.
Sell the TV rights to the men's and women's tennis matches to different stations and see what happens to viewership or run the tournaments on different weeks and measure attendance.
I believe arguing for equal pay solely on the basis of gender
is bias. Economics should determine the purses not gender yet if anyone says this they're deemed sexist.
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@Vincent Freeman
That's a mighty big assumption that the women's game brings in less money then the men's. I think in tennis there is not such a large difference.
I would argue that the networks and fans are biased and sexist, which is not the fault of the players.
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Men and women are not equal when comparing tennis ability. Everyone inherently knows that men are better. If they were equal there would only need to be one bracket and sometimes men would win and sometimes women would win. And the length of the match should only have a small impact on pay. Pay should be determined by the amount of viewers which would equate to revenue generated. The more revenue generated by the players the more they get paid. If more people watch women, they should be paid accordingly. This isn’t complicated.
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Beg to differ. Men are not "better." They are stronger but not necessarily better.
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@Sean
So you are saying that since men are born men, they should be payed more than women and women should be penalized because they are women? In everything, should not pay be based on merit and work, not by who you are born?
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@Sean
Tennis is not about ability, but like watching any sport is about fan enjoyment.
Women demanding equal work?
Maybe feminism is finally growing up.
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Given that women are better at endurance than men, they should indeed play for as long.
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The men need to switch to a best out of 3 as best out of 5 is just tool long. I love a good tennis match but 5 sets is a bit much until the quarter finals then move to a best out of 5. This would really speed up the first rounds and then make the final rounds last longer with better competition between the players.
Women have endurance so that isn't the issue.
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How about the opposite, men and women play best 2 out of 3 sets with all 6-6 sets settled by tie-break. 5 sets are too long for anyone. Tennis should not be an endurance contest. Any need for a timeout longer than 5-10 minutes is automatic disqualification.
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@wnhoke
I should have added 'cumulative' minutes.
The men and the women should play by the same rules and the same number of sets. Simple as that. A best of three set match is different from a best of five. Both should play the same. Maybe best of five, for both, in the Majors, and best of three, for both, in the others.
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No, the marathon is the same length for both sexes. However, at the Olympics, men compete in the decathlon (ten events) whereas women compete in the heptathlon (seven events). Time to "man" up?
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Roger Federer was recently asked the question: "What is one aspect of the game you would change if you could?"
His reply: "Play 5 sets in the ATP tournaments (such as ATP 1000 and 500)".
This would of course make matches more interesting as fitness and stroke efficiency would become a greater factor. Why not ask this of the women too?
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@avoice4US
Are we interested in good tennis or good endurance?
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Equal pay for unequal work is... DISCRIMINATORY! Come on Females. Where's all your outrage. Equal prize money? Sure, but then you have to play best out of 5 sets! Fair is fair!
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I agree. Women playing women can play the best 3 out of 5. It would make the matches more interesting.
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