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Tennis prize money


Doofer

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I have always been one for equality and fairness and I do believe that men and women should get equal pay for the tournaments they enter - however, only if they play the same amount of tennis. In the men's singles, they have to win a minimum of 21 sets ( 7 matches winning in 3 sets in each) to win the title but the women only have to win a minimum of 14 (7 matches winning in 2 sets in each) this is at the grand slams. The men also could play a maximum of 35 sets in a grand slam where as the women would only play a maximum of 21 sets. so why do the women get equal pay for playing less? I think the women should get the same prize money but they should also play the best of 5 sets like the men.

 

Women run the 100m like the men, a marathon like the men, play 90mins of football like the men so why not play best of 5 sets in tennis like the men?

 

Not looking to offend anyone, just wondering what other peoples opinions are on this

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An argument has always been that despite the fact the matches are shorter, the women still need to spend as much time and effort in training to reach the top.  There is also the argument that because they are not as powerful there are are likely to be longer rallies because there are fewer aces and outright winners.  In the old days there was some truth in that because the men played a serve and volley game and there were very few baseline battles.  Games last far longer now despite the fact that there are tie breaks in all but the last set.

 

I do think that sometimes men's matches are too long and women's matches are too short.  In the women's game there is sometimes little opportunity for a good comeback and players can be blown away before they have really settled.  In order to restore some equality what I would like to see is 4 set matches with a slightly longer tie break set such as best of 21 points if they ended at 2 sets all.  As well as introducing equality, it would also end the ridiculously long matches that sometimes occur and which can be disruptive of schedules and which seriously disadvantage the player in the next round.

 

As for prize money, I do think that equality is inappropriate because more people come to watch the men play than the women.   Where there are separate tournaments for men and women (Queens and Eastbourne for example) there is more media interest and sponsorship money for the men's event.  If prize money was awarded pro-rata to paying customers, media rights and sponsorship deals for separate mens and womens events, then women would not get the same as the men.

 

Women footballers may play for 90 minutes but they don't get paid the same for the simple reason that women's football does not attract the same level of paying customers.  It is simple market forces.  The problem with Wimbledon is that in general it is difficult to differentiate between what the paying customers are hoping to see and therefore market forces cannot be applied to the allocation of prize money.  So whilst equality of prize money may be inappropriate, I don't think there is much that can be done about it - although deducting £10 for every unnecessary grunt would be a step in the right direction.

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I would have them all play best of three up to QF's and best of five after that. As for the prize monies I see nothing wrong with that being equal at the slams. The sponsors and punters put up the funds and the players entertain regardless of sex. The more successful males will, however, make a great deal more monies outside of the actual tournaments.

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Average number of points played in a match :

Men : 231

Women : 132

 

So men play an average of 75% more tennis. And at to a much, much higher standard. But for the same pay.

 

That's not what I would call equality.

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Folk pay for entertainment, the men's game is far more entertaining, women's tippy tappy stuff is ok for a wee while but nothing like the standard of the men's game,thats just the way it is,when they compete evenly they deserve the same prize fund. 

 

 

 

:hiding02:   

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Folk pay for entertainment, the men's game is far more entertaining, women's tippy tappy stuff is ok for a wee while but nothing like the standard of the men's game,thats just the way it is,when they compete evenly they deserve the same prize fund. 

 

 

 

:hiding02:   

But some of the women are more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

Edited by Alex MacLeod
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I am sure the women could/would  play 5 sets if asked

 

I heard this subject debated on the radio recently and it was mentioned that they once tried it in a tournament, but the standard of tennis and entertainment dropped significantly.

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Would'nt pay to see some of these women play - what a feckin racket(forgive the pun) screaming/grunting has now gone way overboard.

That Sharp'pavlova is still screaming when the opponent is trying to return the ball, just surprised nobody has complained.

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It's only the slams men play 5 sets

 

I see no reason why women should not get equal pay

 

I am sure the women could/would  play 5 sets if asked

You must be joking! They'd need knee pads for the final two sets.

Btw when I was teaching we had a woman play now and again for the staff football team. Now she played at quite a high level in her own club team, and she was magic at fives, for an hour indoors, loads of skill, but outside on a full pitch she struggled.

I suppose you could say it was like playing with 10 men.......

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