|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Change can be good Higher quality makes women's game worthy of equality
When it comes to equal prize money for men and women at Grand Slam tennis tournaments, I've not been the greatest advocate for change. And yet as another Australian Open ends, a major where champions of both sexes did indeed earn the same amount of cash, I find myself wavering. I mean, how could I possibly begrudge Jennifer Capriati even one cent of her 830,500 Australian dollars? Her title triumph was one of the more staggering achievements in this oft-beguiling sport. Putting a price on something so precious hardly seems right. But as the Aussie Open has only just fallen in line with the U.S. Open by giving male and female competitors level financial pegging, it seems pertinent nonetheless. Capriati's victory not only had the resurgent 24-year-old believing "dreams can come true" and the rest of us pinching ourselves that this once-derailed child prodigy had attained such marvelous heights, but it also perfectly encapsulated the strength of the women's game. Gone are the days when Martina Navratilova won 18 grand slam singles titles in a 12-year span, interrupted intermittently by Chris Evert. Resigned to the bygone days are Steffi Graf 's 22 major crowns secured over a similar time frame, punctuated by Monica Seles' pre-stabbing dominance. In the last nine grand slams, there have been seven different winners.
After Capriati's heroics, it isn't a flight of fancy to imagine any one of eight women winning the next major, the French Open. I'm thinking, in no particular order, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Mary Pierce, Conchita Martinez, Capriati, Seles and the Williams sisters. Add to the mix Anna Kournikova, the glamour girl desperate for substance to accompany the looks; Jelena Dokic, the Yugoslav-turned-Australian-turned-Yugoslav with the controversial Dad; Elena Dementieva, the gracefully talented Olympic silver medalist and Justine Henin, the 18-year-old who won two tournaments in the build-up to reaching the last 16 at the Australian Open. Women's tennis has never been in better shape -- no? So while I still have reservations about the number of sets women play in comparison to their male counterparts and the lack of meaty match-ups for women in the earlier rounds, I cannot deny that the current crop of Misses are most definitely hits. They put bums on seats, have even the most restless of channel surfers staying tuned, and have ad-executives drooling. After the recent swell of excitement they've given tennis fans far and wide, denying women players equal money would frankly seem churlish. I guess that makes me an advocate for change after all. Phil Jones is co-host of World Sport, the international sports show that airs live on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN International.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
