Its a no brainer - Women have to play the best of five

IOL News

20-07-2025

THE unanticipated, if not shock results of both recent Wimbledon Womens and Mens Singles Finals have brought a slew of long simmering issues, regarding Tennis, right back to boiling point: Under the constant scrutiny of GOATS Billie Jean King & Martina Navratilova, omnipresent at most of the Majors and circling like hawks to ensure a level playing field, be it female umpires and commentators presiding over Mens games, or Women's matches being scheduled for Centre Court prime time to the same extent as Men, not to mention equal prize money etc, rooting out sexism has been top of the agenda.
However the 6-0, 6-0, drubbing dished out to American, Amanda Anisimova by World No 2, Iga Swiatek, which took 57 minutes- the same amount of time it took Jannik Sinner & Carlos Alcaraz to complete one set and a handful of games in their subsequent showdown, is a sharp slap in the face of this much touted equality in Women's rights.
Instead it illustrates the gaping chasm between the Mens & Womens Game.If professionals are supposedly paid by the hour and given a bonus for compelling, entertainment value, any astute auditor, would be drawing a red line, under the Final Major equation.
However one hellishly smart Chief Editor, Oliver Brown, has come up with an elegant solution. Make Women play the Best Of Five Sets, exactly the same as the Men, let us dispense with the old misogynistic message 'frailty thy name is Women' for once and for all.
If Women can play rugby and cricket, for the same time frames as Men, they can do it on a tennis court.
We forget that at the 1892 United States Championships- the precursor to the US Open- feisty Mabel Cahill beat Bessie Moore 5-7, 6-3,6-4,4-6,6-2.
Thus are we to believe that their 21st century counterparts with the benefit of physios, psychologists, fitness trainers and an array of modern medicine, are incapable of emulating these 19th century amateurs?
Research has revealed that the longer the endurance challenge, the less the disparity in coping with it, between the sexes.
Moreover how often have we seen great champions, namely Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer & Rafa Nadal, turn near nigh defeat into a rollercoaster victory, in rescuing a Trophy from a 2 set deficit.
Had Anisimova had the luxury of time and another set, she might well have gained control of those frazzled nerves and glazed eyeballs and reincarnated some of the firepower she'd conjured up in her Semi Finals dispatch of World No 1, Sabalenka.
Yes, if King and Navratilova, the Queens of Female Might, want the ultimate opportunity to flex and show off their muscles, here it is- delivered succinctly by Brown, on a silver platter.Unfortunately Australian Maverick, Nick Kygrios' recent proposal to Challenge British No 1, Emma Raducanu (after her premature Wimbledon exit) to a rematch of the 1970s Bobby Riggs versus Billie Jean King 'Battle Of The Sexes', has muddied the waters, by the very fact, Kygrios once again comes up with a handicap to level the playing field- he will have only one serve, ie a first serve, that oh so critical foundation of the game, upon which all other shots depend. Raducanu, as the ' fairer sex' on the other hand will get a second serve.
No no Nick, that's tantamount to serving underhand ( one of Kygrios' mid action gimmicks to the uninitiated). Everything has to be fair and square- two for Emma and two for you, if like Brown, we are for once and all properly dispelling sexism.