Equality in Tennis

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/opinion/letters/tennis-men-women-equality.html

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To the Editor:

As a tennis fan and a rabid follower of the current U.S. Open and other major tournaments, I was interested to read “Is Women’s Game Weaker? Nope. Check the Stat Sheet” (Sports pages, Aug. 27). It states that “women’s tennis regularly comes under attack” for, among other things, “playing shorter matches.”

The article makes some valid points about the “metrics” of the women’s game and a good case for its inherent excitement. But I also think that the whole women-playing-shorter-matches thing deserves some scrutiny. Why, in the 21st century, do women still play best-of-three sets while men (at least in the majors) play best of five?

It’s hard to defend equal pay for less-than-equal work. In fact, it’s insulting to women to think that they can’t play the same match that the men can. Take a look at track and field. Is the Olympic marathon a third shorter for women than for men?

Alice Henry WhitmoreNew York