A major change could be introduced to tennis sooner rather than later after what transpired at the Australian Open.
Tournament director Craig Tiley proposed five-set matches for women at the Grand Slam, having been inspired by the epic men’s semifinal clashes.
The proposed new format for women would start from the quarterfinals, although fans don’t think women should play five-set matches.
Intriguingly, the US Open could introduce best-of-five matches for women before the Australian Open decides to take such action.
Which WTA player would benefit the most from playing best-of-five sets?
Danielle Collins wants men’s Grand Slams to scrap best-of-five-set matches
The potential major change has now been discussed by Brad Gilbert, CoCo Vandeweghe and Danielle Collins on The Big T Podcast.
Gilbert said: “Do you know what I’m sick of? It’s a pet peeve of mine. How many times they are saying get rid of men’s best of five, let’s go to best of three.”
Vandeweghe commented: “I have another caveat I might want to throw in here. Men two out of three until the quarters along with women and then everyone three out of five.”
But Gilbert hit back: “Wrong! Completely wrong!”
WTA player Collins then proposed: “I disagree with both of you. I think we have to do away with three out of five. We have to flush that down the toilet. These matches are way too long! What are we even doing?
“The whole year we are doing two out of three on the men’s side and then at the Slams it’s three out of five, it does not make any sense to me.”
But Gilbert replied: “If you change men’s tennis from best of five to best of three and then five, we are changing history.
“If we go to best of five at the business end of the tournament for the women, the thing you remember are those two semifinal matches that were epic and there is nobody who is looking at their watch thinking this match is going too long.
“They are thinking they were at something special that you might be talking about for 20 years from now.”
Should women play best-of-five sets at Grand Slams?
Australian Open completely lacked matches going the distance
The Australian Open men’s semifinals were indeed both thrillers, particularly Carlos Alcaraz’s win over Alexander Zverev.
The ATP rivals played for five hours and 27 minutes at Rod Laver Arena, with fans then treated to four hours and nine minutes of high-quality tennis from Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner.
While undoubtedly taking a toll on the players involved, the ties issued a firm reminder as to just how special best-of-five-set matches can be.
In stark contrast, however, there were very few best-of-five-set matches that actually went the distance in Melbourne.
Whether or not women will soon adopt the same format in the latter stages of Grand Slams remains to be seen, but it is certainly a discussion worth keeping an eye on.
Women currently play best-of-three-set matches at Grand Slams, but again the Australian Open wasn’t exactly filled with lengthy encounters that ultimately reached a dramatic conclusion.
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