Today I am writing about my journey of discovery. Specifically about whether or not one of the majors decided to play the women’s final as best-of-five. Also, in response to that, did the WTA players band together and refuse to accept the format?
This episode of tennis history is one that I do not think the vast majority of even the most informed tennis fans are even aware of. It is completely out of step with the popular narrative on the topic. It is the first time I have encountered a subject where I fully felt the gravitas and necessity of making sure that what I write about is fully supported by the facts.
The nature of this project, which is to write a page a day about tennis, is what prompts me to frame this overall effort as a diary. It is understood that each day’s entries reflect my a point in time. My thinking may evolve or become more refined over time. It is the essence of being human. My research on this episode is far from over, yet I am obligated to write about it today.
In 1994, the Australian Open announced that the women’s finals in 1995 would be played best-of-five. What originally pointed me at the fact that this even happened, and the fullest account of that episode that I have found to date, was published in an article by Lindsay Gibbs on the ThinkProgress website, which is an American progressive news outlet that has been sliding in and out of solvency.
While I had no reason to doubt what was presented, the very idea is so incongruent with conventional wisdom on the topic that I needed independent confirmation, which was elusive. The original article did not specifically reference articles from mainstream news sources from the time when the event occurred, and google did not turn up any references or indication that it actually happened.
In desperation I turned to twitter, tagging some sources that I thought might be able to help. I received an immediate response from Ben Rothenberg who is a freelance writer tennis writer for the New York Times, and one of the hosts of the “No Challenges Remaining” podcast. Ben’s body of work reflects that he is a fairly progressive thinker on this topic, but his reply reflected current conventional wisdom that the opposite was the case.
In a rare fit of twitter actually working for me, someone else saw the tweet and was able to give me a lead on print media sources from when the event actually occurred. I am out of space and time today, so summarizing what I have found will have to wait until tomorrow.
- Why Women Don’t Play Best-Of-Five Matches at Grand Slams, ThinkPogress, Lindsay Gibbs, May 27, 2016, page viewed 3/2/2020
