Prize money on Adelaide now ...

[Scotty]

As a quick comparison:

Serena Williams spent a total of 9 hours on court for all her matches.

Rafael Nadal spent around 10 hours on court for his last two matches.

[Bacon]

i.m hopeless: 75% of women's were over in straight sets!!

And nothing adds up! I'm over it now

Edit-but nadal played only 3-setters before the semi's. Serena got only 3 setter in there! And a retirement

[Scotty]

From the quarter finals onwards, the men were on court for 1250 minutes ,whilst the women were on court for 690 minutes.

[Bacon]

if the men HAVE to play 3/2 more than women, then the comparative time on court is 690/1035. So, in the latter stages, the men play more.

[Scotty]

Two posts from another forum on the same topic:

I believe women want "equal pay for equal work". Many companies esp in the US continue to pay women about 2/3 of what a man gets - for the same work!

In the grand slams it is clearly in favour of the female players - they ARE NOT doing the same work as the men if they are not playing 3 sets.

The WTA will continue to argue against women playing 5 sets - based on what I'd like to know??? They will be playing against a fellow woman - so in terms of physiology it is FAIR!

What I propose is that the first 3 rounds are all best of 3 (for all players) and then it is best of 5 from the round of 16 to the finals.

Prizemoney is set at a particular amount at each level - and at the end of each round, each loser receives the same amount - regardless of gender.

THEN - like the rest of us workers in the real world - a PERFORMANCE BONUS is calculated for each loser based on no. of games, sets, points, time and overall performance.

Bonuses are not awarded for walkovers or retirements. If you are injured or not physically fit - then make an insurance claim for loss of earnings...

For eg. Nadal wins tonight in an epic 5s,duration - 4 hours 59 minutes! 4 hours more than Safina and Serena actually played.

Here's what happens now;-

Winner - Nadal $2m R/u - Federer - $1m
Winner - Serena $2m R/u - Safina - $1m Total A$6m

Not much incentive for someone like Safina to even bother to turn up. She gets a A$1m just for making the final!

My plan;-

Winner - Nadal A$1m Bonus - A$500K
R/U - Federer A$500K Bonus - A$500K

W - Serena A$1m bonus - nil.
R/U Safina A$500k - bonus - nil

Prizemoney allocated for finalists - $3m + UP TO $3m in bonuses = A$6m

The women still get paid the same as the men - BUT the men who played 4 hours longer receive an additional bonus for their efforts!

I think my plan has some merit - no?

---------------------

We have Billie Jean King to thank for the "equal prizemoney" policies nowadays.

As part of the women's lib movement - she campaigned heavily that the women were not being paid enough - and she fought and fought until 2 Grand slams eventually buckled and awarded equal prizemoney to both men and women (US and Australian).

Wimbledon was the last to grant this ( I think they evetually conceded in 2006?).

The argument was that women should be paid the same as the men - or else it was discriminatory towards women.

The ATP argued that for it to be completely fair and equal - the women should play 5 sets or the men 3 sets.

This is where Billie Jean and the WTA totally baulked!

They argued that the women's tour provided just as much excitement as the mens - but they also added the glamour and sex factor for the audiences (yessir - glamour and sex appeal are what women's libbers fought for!)

What we have now is a completely unfair system which discriminates against the men!

I have a militant feminist friend who is very happy with this arrangement. Her argument? for decades men have reaped the rewards from discriminatory pay policies - now it is time for women to be rewarded!!!

hmmm - i think the original message has been lost in translation???

The best way I can explain this to supporters of this "equal pay" fiasco is to compare it to a normal workplace - and to eliminate gender altogether!

2 call centre workers start work at 9am. At 11am worker A goes home after earning $1000 worth of sales.
Worker B works till 5pm (6 hours longer than worker A) and earns $2000 worth of sales.

Both get paid EXACTLY THE SAME for the one day!

Is this FAIR????

Worker A spent 1/4 of the time at work than worker B.
Worker A earned in only 1/2 of the sales as Worker B.
Worker A and B both get paid the same daily wage!

It doesn't matter what gender these 2 workers are - but if A is female - the WTA argue the pay for both is fair and just!

hmmm

[Scotty]

Sorry guys, that was ridiculously long, I know

[Bacon]

ok, in round 1, the men had 31/64 straight sets, of which there were 39 games of 6-2 or under, and 54 games of 6-3 or better. So 42% of games under good.

The women had 43/64 in straight sets, but 29 games >= 6-2, and 57 of 6-3+. So 34% of bad games.

Really hard to compare.

[bennymacca]

ok, in round 1, the men had 31/64 straight sets, of which there were 39 games of 6-2 or under, and 54 games of 6-3 or better. So 42% of games under good.

The women had 43/64 in straight sets, but 29 games >= 6-2, and 57 of 6-3+. So 34% of bad games.

Really hard to compare.

you are always going to get lopsided games in round 1

comparing the round of 16 onwards is probably the way to go




here is a question for my bro and the other exercise physiologists out there.

how much physical fitness is required to play top level tennis, and how close to the maximum of human physical performance do tennis players get generally?

what is the difference in physical performance between a man and a woman?

would both sexes be operating at a similar percentage of their maximum performance by playing 3 sets and 5 sets respectively?

would this mean that women are working as "hard" to play 3 sets as a man does to play 5?

(not saying i agree with the argument i am presenting above, just thought it might add to the debate)

[Bacon]

comparing the round of 16 onwards is probably the way to go

The floor is yours...

[maccatak11]

thankyou for pointing that out david. my procrastination extends to more than this forum!!

i wanna do your job. i don't have time to scratch my nuts let alone post well thought out and constructive arguments on adelaide now.