By Mert
Ertunga
Friday, April 11th, 2003
Print
Recommend
Let me go on record as saying that most ladies will not like what they read
in this column. Let me also clarify that my opinions below are only valid
for Grand Slams.
Apparently, French Open organizers decided to keep paying more prize money
to men than the women. Wimbledon is the other Grand Slam that pays more to
men then women. Australian Open and U.S. Open pay equal prize money to both
men and women. Many women associated with WTA are in "shock and awe"
regarding the behavior of French Open and Wimbledon organizers.
Let me go on record for the second time: they are completely "off the
wall" for demanding equal pay! Not only is it outrageous from them to
demand equal pay for less work, it is completely astonishing that men do
not complain about not getting paid more in Melbourne and in New York.
Before you let your emotions dictate your reasoning and call me all kinds
of names, put on your "objective" glasses and take a look at the
facts.
What is the maximum amount of sets that women play in one match? Answer:
three sets. Lo and behold, that happens to be the minimum number of sets that
men have to play to advance each round. While many ladies matches end
in less than an hour, most men's matches last around two hours and almost
never go under an hour.
Don't take my word for it. Let's take a closer look at the Australian
Open this year. And before we do that, may I remind the reader that I am
actually picking the worst-case scenario to make my point, as you will soon
see.
Andre Agassi and Serena Williams won the same amount of matches to become
Australian Open champions in 2003. But that is where the similarities end.
Agassi won a total of 22 sets to win the title. And most experts will tell
you without a shred of doubt that this was one of the easiest Grand Slam
runs any champion has ever had. Agassi totally dominated the field, losing
only one set en route to his eighth Grand Slam victory. Yet, he still did have
to play 22 sets.
Serena Williams, by contrast, was tested several times during her run, taken
to a final set in three of her matches. Her run to the title was by no means
a walk in the park. Even then, guess how many sets she had to play to claim
her fourth Grand Slam title in a row? 17! In other words, five sets less than Agassi.
Yet Agassi got paid the same amount of money as Serena. Actually, that is
not exactly correct, either. Serena also played doubles and won, hence making
clearly more money than Agassi. And before you start questioning why Mr.
Agassi and a few other top male players do not play doubles, ask this question
first: "how many of the top female players would play doubles if they
were to play three-out-of-five-sets singles matches?" Not many. Steffi
Graf couldn't even handle playing mixed doubles in 1999 in Wimbledon
semifinals, leaving Johnny Mac completely exasperated because "it would
take too much out of her for singles matches." And she was not kidding!
Oh, one more fact: it took Agassi over 12 hours to win all his matches and
take the title, despite the fact that he had an easy run. How about his
counterpart Serena? Try barely over seven hours! And that is despite being taken
to the distance in three of her seven matches.
Let me remind the "emotional" reader again: the 2003 Australian
Open example is actually one of the worst examples that I can use to prove
my point. I could have easily pointed out to Goran Ivanisevic's run
at Wimbledon 2001 or Sampras' run in Wimbledon 1995, where each won
it straight sets only two out seven matches.
Or how about a more recent example? In 2002 U.S. Open, Serena needed 14 sets
and 6.8 hours at the office to win the title and earn the same amount of
money that Sampras did in 25 sets and 16.3 hours of work -- more than
double the amount of time Serena put in.
Who really should be crying for justice here? The way it looks in this example,
Pete had to earn his dinner and lunch while Serena earned her dinner, but
had "free lunch."
Here is my advice to supporters of equal prize money: take a closer look
at all other events on the WTA Circuit and their prize money versus the prize
money offered at ATP events. Then you would see the true injustice to women
at that level. Despite the amount of work being fairly equal in all WTA and
ATP events outside Grand Slams, men earn almost 30% above women.
Perhaps these supporters have a valid point, but are too busy wasting their
energy on the wrong platform.
Back
to Tennis
Back to
Home