US Open Woman's ...

[hockeyscout]

Is it just me or is this the absolute worst field of woman's tennis players ever in the history of the game?

[arturohernandez]

Is it just me or is this the absolute worst field of woman's tennis players ever in the history of the game?

There is a lack of variety. It is a very homogenized field where the women all hit very similarly. It is who can hit the hardest. A woman who comes along and can do something different is unusual. It reminds me of a scene in the new Netflix series Away. On an international mission to Mars, a Russian Cosmonaut complains to the American commander about baseball. He says that Americans ruined a beautiful game by making everything about measurement. Everything is a statistic.

That is what has happened to tennis. Everyone is brought up with a steady stream and little room to try their own thing. What we get is carbon copies. There are so many times that I see women bashing backhands at each other and wonder why there is no slice thrown in to mix things up.

The funny thing is that the men's game seems more heterogeneous these days. There is so much more variety. Maybe it is because bashing would get you there in the men's game. The power is so high that adding more just doesn't do the trick.

[don_budge]

Is it just me or is this the absolute worst field of woman's tennis players ever in the history of the game?

It is interesting how the argument can be made that they deserve equal prize money.

[glacierguy]

It would seem to me, that performers of any description should be paid in proportion to the amount of money audiences and broadcast rights generate. I don’t get ‘equal pay no matter what’ either.

[stroke]

I have been to tournaments like Cincy midweek where the men and women are both playing and it is painfully obvious who the fans want to watch. I was there one year where Cincy schedulers had Serena on the stadium court at 1pm and Isner vs Murray in the Grandstand, same time The grandstand was packed with folks waiting futilely to get in. The stadium was a ghost town save for the top row, where fans were peering over the top and turned around to watch the Grandstand.

[arturohernandez]

I have been to tournaments like Cincy midweek where the men and women are both playing and it is painfully obvious who the fans want to watch. I was there one year where Cincy schedulers had Serena on the stadium court at 1pm and Isner vs Murray in the Grandstand, same time The grandstand was packed with folks waiting futilely to get in. The stadium was a ghost town save for the top row, where fans were peering over the top and turned around to watch the Grandstand.

I get that tennis cannot change society. But I had the feeling that women's tennis was as compelling as the men's. I remember watching Martina vs. Chrissy or Graf vs. Seles with the same enthusiasm as I would watch the finals of the men. I went to La Costa and watched Graf vs. Zina Garrison live. Could it be that the drop-off from the top is steeper in the women's game? Or are they all too homogenized.

Or am I just imagining that it used to be more compelling?