Michael Burgess: Critics in twirl but miss point, women's games too short

Eugenie Bouchard of Canada was asked by a commentator to "give us a twirl", sparking outrage on social media. Photo / AP

Tennis has a sexism problem - but it's nothing to do with the "twirl". Instead the biggest issue around the differing treatment of female players keeps getting overlooked.

Why are they still playing "mini matches" at grand slams - compared to the men - and why does no one seem to care?

There has been outrage this week from punters on social media, as well as tennis legends including Billie Jean King, about Canadian world No 7 Eugenie Bouchard being asked to "give us a twirl" after a match last week.

The top male players would never be treated in such a way, they shouted, lamenting the sexism still existent in the sport.

It was certainly an ill judged request by the Australian commentator, but critics missed the real point. Why aren't women able - or being allowed to - play best of five set matches?

The prize money at the grand slams is equal but the workload is incredibly different.

As an example, last year's thrilling Wimbledon final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer stretched almost four hours, while Petra Kvitova demolished Bouchard in 55 minutes in the women's decider.

But beyond the equal sets for equal pay angle, it's actually the women who are being short changed. Too often their matches finish with a premature feeling, with much less of a window for a comeback.

Men's tennis at grand slams tends to overshadow the women's game because of the lack of truly great contests on the female side.

There have been a few memorable clashes over the years - the 2013 United States Open final between Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka springs to mind - but not nearly enough given the skills of the athletes involved.

And there is a long forgotten precedent. Back in 1990 Monica Seles and Gabriela Sabatini played a best-of-five-sets match for the Virginia Slims championship.

In front of more than 17,000 fans at Madison Square Garden, the 16-year-old Seles prevailed 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a three hour 47 minute epic.

That kind of drama has been absent this week.

Azarenka's second-round encounter with Caroline Wozniacki was a fantastic match but why not at least one more set? Likewise, Australian Sam Stosur had a bad start on Thursday night and was gone in 77 minutes.

Maybe it doesn't need to be best of five sets for the entire tournament, perhaps from the fourth round onwards?

Look at the men this week. If they played over three sets then the best drama of the tournament so far wouldn't have happened, as Rafa Nadal would have been eliminated before his memorable comeback against Tim Symczek.

The same goes for Benjamin Becker (vs Lleyton Hewitt) and Jerzy Janowicz (vs Gael Monfils).

So yes Billie Jean, the men would probably never be asked to "give us a twirl" at the end of their games but that might be because they are too damn tired.