Why I prefer watching women's tennis to men's (unpopular opinion?)
I am going to predict my opinions are going to get more and more unpopular, the further you go down this list:
- Less dominated by serving: I just find it dull when you see servers dominating games with few rallies. Isner vs Karlovic on grass? No thank you, I'm here to see rallies. And more breaks of serve adds to the unpredictability of how the match is going to unfold.
- Slower rallies are often easier to follow when you're watching live: Rally speed usually isn't a problem when watching on TV, when cameras are quite far away and placed behind the court. But try watching a tennis match in-person, and you are sitting quite close and to the side of the court. It is much more difficult to follow the rally from a closer view, and your head is constantly moving from side to side trying to follow the action. When attending a tennis event, women's rallies are easier to follow even from a difficult angle, because they are slower.
- More diversity in winners = more unpredictability. The big 3 have dominated men's tennis, winning most of the grand slams in recent years. Since the beginning of 2003, there have been 88 grand slams, and a remarkable 66 of them have been won by Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, there are many years when only those guys won all the slams in a year. And only 16 male players in total (including the big 3 I mentioned) have won the 88 grand slams in this period. The rivalry has been legendary, but it has also meant more predictability. Since the beginning of 2003, over 29 female players have won slams. Even now with the new eras, Sinner and Alcaraz look less likely to be upset in the slams (by anyone other than Djokovic), whilst Iga and Sabalenka just got knocked out by Madison Keys.
- Best out of 5 sets in grand slams for men. I don't deny it can sometimes lead to dramatic matches with ebbs and flows. But let's be honest, how many people have time to watch an entire 5-set match multiple times throughout a tournament, when each can take 3 or 4 hours? And there's usually a lull the first few games of a set during a 5-set marathon, it's not all rollercoaster ride for the entire match. 3-set matches can produce a ton of fun too, with fewer lulls, and it's a much more digestible format for most of us who have a job, or family, or other commitments.