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Apparently, Hewitt can't last five sets, either, since he hasn't won Wimbledon in about six years (perhaps one reason SI called him "former champion"?). Which woman tennis player will be the first to jam his racket through his head?

QUOTE(#1):

Originally posted 03:05 PM ET  06.24 by Jerrepie

Apparently, Hewitt can't last five sets, either, since he hasn't won Wimbledon in about six years (perhaps one reason SI called him "former champion"?). Which woman tennis player will be the first to jam his racket through his head?

Gotta love the logic. You seem to imply that anyone who can last 5 sets should be winning Wimbledons left and right.

Besides, he didn't say anything remotely derogative. Most female players are indeed likely to require additional fitness training to go 5 sets, more so since points tend to take longer in women's game.

Equal pay, yes. Five sets, no.

Just watch the third set of a woman's final, they are already laboring.

He's right...

unfortunately that doesn't matter a bit to the politically correct lynch mob heading his way...

Look out Lleyton!

Agree! ... But i??d prefer a 5 sets-Grand Slam Final, just like the Old Final Championships played in the Madison Squeare Garden ... If you see, tha last grand salms finals have been very poor, beside the wimbledon final 2008, and Us open 2008.

I don??t think Hewitt said something offensive. It??s just the truth of it. a mean, i even remember Justine Henin saying that women body can??t stand for 5 hours playing like men, and just because the woman body is complitly different ot the men physsical structure.

So, i??d love to see a 5 setter in a Grand Slam final, because like this they legitimate the trophy by sanding at court at least 90 minutes

Totally. 5 sets would cheapen the quality of women's matches and make for some drawn out sloppiness. Seriously, I don't know what the problem is. Women's tennis is pretty much the only professional sport for women that is actually popular and has a broad following.

Besides, it's not like Hewitt made a Krajicek-esq comment like 75% of women pro's are fat, lazy pigs.

'Equal pay for women' in tennis is totally bogus. It should be 'equal pay for equal work', and, of course, women play only best-of-three and not best-of-five like men. Play best-of-five and you deserve equal pay. Likewise, if men only played best-of-three sets, their pay should go down. Lleyton Hewitt is completely right - women can't play best-of-five, at least not in a competitive or interesting way. However, I personally feel that the current women's tour is extremely meager on talent and utterly boring to watch. Where are the Grafs and Navratilova's to elevate the game and take it to the next level?

*click* *click* *click*...what's that sound? That would be the collective high heels of the Feminist Army marching in lockstep towards Lleyton Hewitt's residence. There's a gonna be a lynchin today!!

The WNBA, Women's tennis, Women's golf....all professional women's sporting events that aren't Olympic events are a joke to watch, compared to the men. WNBA...wow she made a lay-up...wow, with a small ball she made a set shot...in women's tennis...minus the grunting...the top women's player would get smoked by the men's top 100...even the middle linebacker serena williams...she's never taken ped's...right....women's golf...they used to look butch...last several years it's more "hooterish"....I will say women's college softball is terrific....but all college sports are great. Next time put two tv's side by side and watch the WNBA and the NBA at the same time....tell me if it two different planets or what.....like watching the Generals when they aren't playing against the Globetrotters....who would waste their time with that? If women want to surpass men's sports...then they should wear two-piece bikini's when they play their sports....no man's sport could top that.. :)

There may be a few women on the tour fit enough to last five sets, but most probably could not. In fact, some of the top 15 players on the women's side, can barely last three sets. Look at Serena--she's a great champion and got more stamina than a lot of other women players, but there's no way she could handle 5 set matches all the way through the tournament. Others, like Bartoli, while more physically fit than myself, look overweight, soft and sluggish. Any talk of women's matches becoming five setters would have to include talk of better fitness training for the athletes.

i write this TRULY BELIEVING MY WIFE WONT BE READING THIS !!! it is a fact of life, WOMEN RULE MEN in many ways, and this is true with tennis too. consider last Oz open - mens final RN Vs RF, goes 5-sets, thriller, one of the greatest finals with the stadium audience as well as TV audience at the edge of their seats !! we pay AUD 275 for the match. compare this to women final SW vs DS a straightset wash out. i went out for a coffee + wash room break, come back, THE MATCH IS OVER !!! also i pay AUD 275 for this match too. the Oz media cried FOUL as much as they could, but billy jean king never reads these lines and even if she does, SHE SEEMS TO IGNORE IT.

well, this way WOMEN'S TENNIS WILL LOSE ITS AUDIENCE IN DUE COURSE !!! for US Open 2009, I AM NOT GOING TO BUY TICKET FOR WOMEN'S FINAL, for sure.

KUDOS TO HEWITT, A COURAGEIOUS MAN !! KEEP IT UP LEYTON, and WISH YOU GOOD LUCK IN YOUR FAMILY LIFE !!!

Equal pay for equal play. Either they should play 5 sets or take 3/5 of the prize money for men.

Yes, the majority of women on the WTA tour probably wouldn't be able to last many 5 setters while still playing a high level of tennis. However, when was it ever equal pay for equal play in any sport?

3/5 prize money for women based on some principle of 'fairness' is ridiculous. Who is actually 'worth' a million dollars a tourney anyway? There are people who are working their asses off for minimum wage while athletes signed out of college without having played a single game in a professional league get an multi-million dollar bonus. Women as a group should not be paid less for 'playing less' due to either an inherent lack of ability to play 5-setters consistently, or due to an unchanging system that was put in place not by women, but by mostly male tennis officials quite some time ago.

QUOTE(#14):

Originally posted 11:19 PM ET  06.24 by aeiouy123

'Women as a group should not be paid less for 'playing less'
aeiouy123

Why not?

How do television ratings compare between the women and men?

I imagine that is where the majority of the money is coming from. If the women are more entertaining and bring in more advertising revenue, pay them proportionately more. Pay for performance.

We already discriminate pay for championship tennis players. Why pretend that we live in some fairy tale land? Can you imagine wheelchair tennis players demanding equal pay with able bodies tennis players?

QUOTE(#8):

Originally posted 04:41 PM ET  06.24 by shafnutz05

*click* *click* *click*...what's that sound? That would be the collective high heels of the Feminist Army marching in lockstep towards Lleyton Hewitt's residence. There's a gonna be a lynchin today!!

***Click***Thump***Click***Thump*** that will be the sound when they're done stickin' a heel up his ass. He's in for treat!

This has to be one of the worst T&R topics of all time. Woman train to play 3 sets because that is what they play. They don't train to play 5 sets because they don't have to. This is like saying a woman can't run a marathon or ride a bike for 50 miles. I guess the next topic will be if a man had to play a tennis match for 7 sets they would not make it.

Can we at least get some topics that make a little sense?

there`s only a select few female tennis players that could really perform 5 set matches... Alot of the players that are at the top right now (couch williams sisters cough) would fall to pieces against more efficient hitters.

Rather watch a 5 song set. Gnome sane?