Tennis: doubles and the women's game... what's wrong?

[AdvocatusD]

Back in the day when Johnny Mac (and other top singles players) played doubles, you couldn't find a seat in the stands for love or money. It was almost as big as the singles.

Agreed, that today the big names are missing, but surely the men's doubles semi finals should be better attended?

It's like a graveyard out there...



As for women's tennis. I have to admit that apart from Sharapova and Serena, I really have no idea as to who the rest are (maybe that's a issue with me instead). They're so inconsistent. It's like it's either Serena or Sharapova, but if they're out it's anyone's game. Maybe that speaks for the high quality on second thought?

[Justices]

A lot is down to the marketing. If the players aren't sold, nobody knows about them. To play doubles you need to be highly skilled and a good pair will rip apart a team of two top singles players. It's fantastic to watch, fast, athletic and explosive but the ATP don't market it enough. The doubles matches are also usually much closer than the singles matches as, outside of the slams, they use the super tiebreaker if it's 1 set all. Certainly makes the game a lot more exciting imo.

Women's game.. no comment. They get paid well however

[mikebradford]

doesnt stop the women demanding equal pay!
even though they are less sellable, and as such the advertising income their side of the game generates i would imagine is considerably lower

i agree other than the two named, i have little or no intrest. other than the odd look to see if they are attractive or not lol

[obob]

Naked tennis for the women would certainly help. Apart from the Williams.

[Derek Smith]

mikebradford said:

doesnt stop the women demanding equal pay!
even though they are less sellable, and as such the advertising income their side of the game generates i would imagine is considerably lower

i agree other than the two named, i have little or no intrest. other than the odd look to see if they are attractive or not lol

Women players get more prize money than the men do.

I'm all for equal pay. I've got two daughters and know how much more effort than their male colleagues they have to put to get 80% of the opportunities. However, despite both being tennis fans, neither watched the women's final but will be stuck to the TV for the men's and it's not because they fancy either player, and especially Murray. They, and me and my wife, find the men's game so much more exciting.

If tickets for the matches were open to bidding (which they are not of course, so this is pure speculation) those for the men's final would reach much higher levels than for women's yet they get the same pay for each match and, because they can play doubles they get more money.

Tennis is entertainment. They should get paid according to how entertaining they are and that is judged by how much people want to see them.