A home truths about the state of world tennis (more specially women's)

I came across this from last year... after watching the final between Nadal and Djokovic. These two guys are amazing. Fed is on the way down, Murray is trying to come up and there are exciting new players like Tomic for Australia. The men's final went for nearly 6 hours... the women's final was over in 1.5hrs and two sets... boring!! I am trying hard but can't think of another sport where the game or even the grand final is shorter or easier than the men's game. Yet they get the same reward? The women could at least agree to play longer in the final - first to 3 not 2. But they could never go back to different prize money now. My two cents.

I dont agree with mens tennis being better than ever, despite the recent results at the Aus Open its still been mainly 2 horse race b/w federer and nadal. The womens game needs a shake up too but I dont buy the hype about the mens game. In regards to pay and play I prefer quality to quantity, the schivone & kuznetsova game was a three setter that entertained me more than some of the boring mens games that go five sets. Just cause its a longer game doesnt mean its a more entertaining one.

I agree that men's tennis is better than ever, and women's tennis is at an all time low. Thank God the days of Sampras are gone. In those days the points would only last 2 or 3 strokes, and Sampras was a complete bore to watch. No rallies whatsoever. How can that be entertaining? But now we have some real personalities with different game styles battling for the top tournaments. Even if you don't follow tennis, you have heard of Federer and Nadal, and you want to watch them. We are invested in them, we care about them, and that is why women's tennis is such crap nowadays. The problem is, like the other poster said, there are no rivalries whatsoever. Has the general public really ever heard of Wozniacki? Safina? Zvonereva? or any other of the top 10 players? To make matters worse, they all have the same type of game. Gone is the craftiness of Hingis, the beautiful backhand of Henin, the forehand of Graf, etc. Nowadays, all they do is bash the ball from the backcourt with their two handed backhands until one of them makes an error or tires out. Do any of them have any personality, or heaven, forbid, a one handed backhand? We are lucky to see 2 volleys in a match, no net play whatsoever, unless the other player has hit a drop shot. Hopefully there are some interesting younger players to watch. I just don't see anybody rooting for any of the players right now. Why would they? I wish the commentators would be honest and say it just sucks nowadays.. It just sucks.

Aces are good to serve, but pretty boring to watch, there is so much down time in tennis, it amazes me that the game has so much much money in it, squash is a much better game, having said that, i play tennis at least 2 times a week and love it, but it can be quite boring to watch at times. There are some old guys down at our club that play daily, the same 4 guys play, how they must know each others games !!, seems to keep them going though, they are true tennis tragics.

Yeah the women's game is horrible right now. But these things ebb and flow. I remember when Hewitt, Safin and Roddick changed places as the world number one. The men's game didn't inspire me then. The women's game had the Williams sisters playing a full time schedule, and girls like Lindsay Davenport could win the odd tournament. Hingis was still good. Henin was emerging as a great player. And Cljisters, who hadn't won a Slam yet, was up there too. Jennifer Capriati made a comeback too and won the Australian Open and the French Open. Right now the men's game is stronger than I've ever seen it, with Murray and Novak playing some incredible tennis. And Federer and Nadal are as good as anybody who has played the game - and they're both playing at the same time! Nadal might even be the greatest player ever. So it goes up and down, ebbs and flows.

I couldn't care less what the men make so I don't see why I should care what the women make.

Women's tennis. I seriously think I could beat half the women playing. You only watch it because you want to sleep with a few of the tastier sorts. The grunting and screeching is an obvious stunt to put the opponent off. Interestingly, an ex bf of Sharapova was in therapy due to her 'lack of ability' and the complete let down he had after the expectation of what she was apparently in his mind going to be like. Something along the word's of 'potato and sack' was a description being bandied about by the ex beau. For mine, I like the eastern Euro birds. If they are playing, I am in.

I agree to an extent. I don't believe women should get the same prize money. I'm all for equality, but in tennis they're not equal. Men play best of 5, women play best of 3. That's not equal therefore they shouldn't get equal prize money. Women's tennis isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Kuznetsove and Schiavone played out a 4 1/2 hrs match yesterday ending 16-14 in the 3rd set. There are some great players. Except the screechers, they're a blight on the game and should be told to shut up or don't play. Some argue that because there's been so many different #1 players, some even without winning a grand slam means that women's tennis is bad. But it just shows how tough it is. Anyone in the top 50 can win a grand slam. In the men's it's a 2 man race with maybe 3 others with a chance. As for the grand slam debate. Aust Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open are all Grand Slam tournaments. They are the majors. To achieve THE Grand Slam though is to win all four grand slams in a single calendar year. But i think these days it's become accepted that if you win all four no matter when you win them, it's a big achievement and deserves the title.

I totally agree with you on the pay issue. Should be equal play for equal pay. On top of that there's a huge difference in the quality of play between the men and women. It's unfair for the men concerning the pay.

Rafa is in line for a Grand Slam should he win this year - According to ITF in 2010: "The Grand Slam titles are the championships of Australia, France, the United States of America and Wimbledon. Players who hold all four of these titles at the same time achieve the Grand Slam". Womens tennis does need a shake up though - where have all the great players gone?? The definitely should not get the same pay as the men.