A subject close to my heart - Tennis: You would think that with the incredible progress women have made in the sport in the last few decades, that it just wouldn't be possible to hear or read opinions like the one shared by Raymond Moore CEO of Indian Wells recently (excerpt below) but unfortunately there are always those who allow themselves to be passed by when it comes to women's progress and those who deep down believe that women shouldn't really be doing sports anyway - the real tragedy is that ignorance of these characters doesn't seem to prevent them from gaining positions of authority. I'm not so much angered by these comments as disappointed. The man has made a fool of himself with these ill-judged utterances, but for him to proffer such ignorance without a thought for the thousands of girls around the world dreaming of a career in Tennis or their parents who sacrifice so much to make it happen is completely irresponsible. My advice to female tennis players? Disregard this old Dinosaur - the way he has disregarded you!
Prize money has been equal in the men's and women's game for a while now - quite rightly so. Whatever you may think of women's tennis the fact is that Grand Slam tounament prize money in general is derived from ticket sales and the women's and mens draws have the same number of matches - When you buy a ticket, you buy it for a date or time and a specific court - you don't know which players you will be seeing and the likelyhood is, that you will see an equal number of male and female players in action - therefore the prize money needs to be equal.
You can argue that the men play best of 5 sets and women only best of 3, so there is a disparity and I have some sympathy with that view - however I would say that those limitations were set by the powers that be, a long time ago and it is now time to encourage the women players to start playing best of 5, after all there is no physical reason why they shouldn't...is there? In the meantime I still support equal prize money as both men and women players give 100% within the parameters set out for them.
"In my next life when I come back I want to be someone in the WTA,
because they ride on the coat tails of the men," Moore said. "They don't
make any decisions and they are lucky. They are very, very lucky. If I
was a lady player, I'd go down every night on my knees and thank God
that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried
this sport. They really have."
blokes a muppet
ReplyDeleteAnd women should play 5 sets, saying women can only play 3 is saying women are weaker. it also artificially stunts female physical development as 3 sets won't push or condition you as much as 5
perhaps we need another billy jean king v bobby riggs demonstration
everyone knows women's tennis is better than men's anyway
Women have more room for stamina. If men can play five sets, women must play nine or more. Playing five sets can be a good first step towards that goal. But before anything like this is done, the female tennis players will have to prepare for it. Now they are trained for only three sets. This won't help them play as many as they really can, will it?
DeleteMy point is that women should be playing more sets than men.
DeleteWomen do indeed have the strength to play up to 9 sets but in terms of pragmatism this will indeed result in matches taking far too long to play, especially with evenly matched opponents. In the juniors both genders play 3 sets, and although 5 sets would be too much for boys, really the girls should be playing 5 sets like the seniors and this would really advance women’s tennis to its potential – if you then had senior coed matches can you really imagine the like of Nadal and Federer even making it to the quarter finals of tournaments in such circumstances.
DeleteAlso imagine where the likes of Laura Robson and Heather Watson would be now in terms of physicality if they had been playing 5 set matches since junior years – well their speed, strength, agility, reflexes, hand/eye coordination would be unbelievable, you would be able to take them from tennis and teach them any martial arts or boxing sport etc and after only a few months of training these young ladies would cut through the best men in those sports like a hot knife through butter.
And this is a good reason to encourage tennis to girls for it does have less of a social stigma for girls to play and gives a good grounding before an amazon further develops her potential and threaten the socialised male ego.
The comparative lack of social stigma in women's tennis is quite an odd (yet convenient for us) fact.
DeleteStriker
Indeed, young Mistresses will take better advantage of Their superiority if They play 5 sets at junior ages. And very good point regarding where tennis can lead a Mistress later on, so I also come to agree with (sounds like a very strong Mistress) Striker.
Deletewho said women aren't able to play 5 sets and can only play 3 sets instead in the first place?
Deleteprobably a man :/
If I could go back in time and find that man, I would test him in a 5-set match. I don't play tennis that much, but I do play enough to know how fast men wear off when put against us. Watch a bit of men's tennis and you 'll see how much their performance drops as the match is played. Female competitors are much more stable, despite being less trained.
DeleteRaffaela Cosanostra
the Williams sisters and many other female tennis players to boot, could snap that jerk in half if they wanted!
ReplyDeleteIn point of fact I would say pretty much all female tennis players, including most juniors could have him on HIS knees begging for mercy if they wanted to. I mean - look at him? What gives such a pathetic specimen the right to make such insulting claims about women tennis players, when he himself would clearly be no match in any kind of contest with either of the athletic Godesses he's pictured with above. Does anyone else see the irony?
DeleteYou both are correct regarding the physical aspect. But a strong woman is not just physically strong. A strong woman could just ask Mr. Moore a very simple but crucial question: "With what criteria are you saying that Federer and Nadal have carried the sport?". Having him with nothing to say would most probably have just as good an effect.
DeleteNote Phetjee Jaa only got banned because she beat the boys and now at 13 is reaching the physical condition where she will now destroy the men also, including the Lumpinee and Rajademnern stadium champions!
ReplyDeletexx>>xy grrrls rule :D xD
And you're right it is absolutely hilarious because they know, even if they don't want to admit it, that we are better than them, but they can't deny biology/nature much longer the amazons have nearly arisen #femsupremacy #grrrl power #grrrls rule xx>>xy :D xD
ReplyDeleteThe jealousy and fear men have at women’s excellence and superiority is both hilarious and pathetic, but it has led to a sinister psychological tactic aimed at keeping girls down, which is proving to be a real, but not unsurmountable obstacle for the rise of the amazon, and that is ‘fit-shaming’ and I have written an article for amazons on how to cope with the negativity that WILL be thrown at you just because stronger and better than men. Xaan, if you think this is an important subject, you are more than welcome to repost this as a topic by itself :)
ReplyDeleteHow to deal with fit shaming attempts and negativity part1
ReplyDeleteAny woman who starts training her body in order to become an amazon will be 100% guaranteed at some point to receive negativity and criticism from not only masculinists but also relatives and even other women including friends.
The problem is that sometimes this negativity can be hurtful, it can make you doubt or give up. And that is just not acceptable. The aim of this article is to help arm you a little in order to face this obstacle, which unfortunately it is almost inevitable that you will encounter.
The most often heard negativity you will hear is "You’ll look like a man if you keep this up" or “that’s too butch a sport for women” or “girls shouldn’t do that, it’ll make you manly”
What you need to know is that people say this because they do not have the same evolution as you, criticism from other women is because you are becoming the female they all secretly wish to be and criticism from men is due to their unwillingness to accept their inferiority to you.
You need at all costs to see that your lifestyle is naturally the right one, and accept that these people are backward and have yet to see enlightenment. Realise this and keep on moving forward
And you are not alone; it is the same for all amazons! Even if you are not fortunate enough to have other likeminded Amazons around you, appreciate that there are still plenty of Amazons about all over the world who are facing exactly the same issues as you; once you know this you will already feel less alone. Read blogs like these and other online sites frequented by women who wish to be amazons for inspiration to help keep motivated and confirm your superiority.
Excellent!! Absolutely this deserves its own thread as it is central to the reason this blog exists....I will add it shortly as well as some of my own thoughts... Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI play tennis on a regular basis. My intention is to play five sets every match, but so far I have only been done the favour by female opponents. Male ones get exhausted even during the first game of the second set. Elise
ReplyDeleteSo they quit? How unhonourable... Silvia
DeleteNo, they just run out of stamina. They practically are unable to stand, so close to fainting that for me the real test is to catch them before they fall. Women are so much harder to beat I almost couldn't believe it at first. Elise
DeleteSay what you want about stamina, what I know best is their fragility. Men break too easily. Silvia
DeleteYou 're right about men's fragility, Silvia. Men are provenly much more prone to each individual sort of injury than us. I 've seen this play out a fair few times during the recent days. But try exhausting a man and you 'll see that their stamina also sucks. Elise
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