‘They can also play best-of-five’: Tennis pay equality debate reignites

Greek tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas has reignited an age old tennis debate, questioning why women don’t play five sets at grand slams.

The age old tennis debate over pay equality has once again reared its head as World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas reignited discussion.

The 23-year-old Greek star sparked the conversation when he spoke about the best of five sets issue and equal pay.

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“I don’t want to be controversial or anything,” he said.

“There is also the topic of equal pay and everything, women getting equal pay for playing best-of-three, then getting equal pay for playing best-of-five. I don’t know.

“There are also a lot of scientists and statisticians, whatever, out there.

“I’ve been told that women have better endurance than men. I don’t know. Maybe they can also play best-of-five, I guess.

“For Grand Slams, best-of-five, I like it. On the other side, on the other hand, we would have seen much more variety when it comes to different Grand Slam winners if it was best-of-three, I believe.

“I very much believe that the winners of Grand Slams would be very different if the format was best-of-three in men.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas reignited the debate. Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

He continued adding that he and German world No. 4 Alexander Zverev would both be grand slam champions if majors were the best of three sets.

Tsitsipas led the 2021 French Open 7-6 6-2 before Novak Djokovic came back and won the last three sets, while Zverev lost the 2020 US Open to Dominic Thiem after claiming the first two sets.

Similarly since 2020, Thiem would have defeated Djokovic in the 2020 Australian Open after losing the first set but winning the next two before going down in five, and Daniil Medvedev would have defeated Rafael Nadal in this year’s Australian Open final after claiming the opening two sets.

“I’m pretty sure you can find a lot of cases where the loser of a Grand Slam won the third set or won the first two sets, still somehow found yourself losing at the end,” Tsitsipas continued. “It’s different psychology. I’m sure it allows the greater players, the ones that have more experience when it comes to winning Grand Slam titles, on fighting back.

“It gives them more chances to get back into the match with a best-of-five format.

“I like it anyway. I like the best of five. I think it gets very physical. It makes for a great show, as well.”

Not the prize Tsitsipas wanted. Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

It’s far from the first time the debate has been brought up as well and while there have been some strides in the pay gap, there is still some disparity between the ATP and WTA competitions.

For example, the recently retired Aussie star Ash Barty won the 2021 Cincinnati Masters to win $A357,000, while Zverev won the men’s tournament, taking home $A918,000.

The men’s runner up even made more than the women’s champion as Andrey Rublev claimed $A497,290.

The total prize money on offer for the men increased 14.75 per cent from 2020 to $6.8 million, while for the women it decreased six per cent, down to $2.96 million. Both men and women play best-of-three in Cincinnati.

In grand slams, the US Open was the first to offer equal prizemoney since 1973. The Australian Open was next to follow suit in 2001, followed by the French Open in 2006 and Wimbledon in 2007.

Nadal and Barty each took home $2.875m from winning the Australian Open in a record high $75 million prize pool.

After Tsitsipas’ comments, former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova posted a version of the story, along with a laugh crying emoji and other cartoons including one which said “big brainer”.

Pliskova ridiculed the idea. Photo: Instagram

Japanese star Naomi Osaka said to the comments: “Does he want to play nine sets? If he tries to extend mine, I’m going to extend his.

“Wait. He was asked that question or he just brought it up?”

When told he brought it up, Osaka continued.

“This guy is so funny, man,” she said. “I don’t know. I feel like that would change the structure of tennis.

“Like people will start doing things differently in the gym and stuff like that. It will probably also get a very long time to be implemented, but you’re also, like, a man is talking about a woman’s sport, so I don’t think his idea is going to go through.”

Osaka tried to laugh Tsitsipas off. Photo: Mark Brown/Getty Images/AFP

Women playing five-sets is not unprecedented however.

The WTA did attempt to trial five-setters for the final of the WTA Finals between 1984 and 1998 but ultimately reverted back to three-set matches.

Three of the finals during that time went the distance, while seven finished in three-sets and six in four-sets.

In 1990, Monica Seles defeated Gabriella Sabatini, while Steffi Graff won two five setters against Anke Huber and Martina Hingis in 1995 and 1996 respectively.

According to a 2012 New York Times article, the reason it reverted back to three-set matches was because Martina Navratilova was such a dominant champion.

“The theory behind it was that adding the extra set would give fans more time to see Martina Navratilova who, in those days, was routinely dispatching opponents in 45 minutes,” Chris Chase wrote.

“But it had a different effect. Making the matches longer didn’t increase excitement. When the matches were blowouts, the additional set was like adding 30 minutes to a bad movie. When the matches are close, the importance of early points is diminished.”

Although another reason behind the issue is simply tradition, it could be argued men could also play a uniform three sets in all tournaments as well.