Former British number one player calls for controversial change at Grand Slam tournaments, ‘it’s ludicrous’

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Former Australian Open finalist John Lloyd believes something needs to change at Grand Slams in the future.

Grand Slams are reportedly considering making some changes in the future, but not relating to Lloyd’s concern.

A lot of players have been outspoken against the current tennis schedule, including Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek.

However, Lloyd thinks that Grand Slams need to make a controversial change which he thinks could help solve this issue.

John Lloyd calls for the end of best-of-five set matches at Grand Slams

Lloyd is a former British number one and also reached a Grand Slam singles final at the 1977 Australian Open.

After retiring after Wimbledon in 1986, Lloyd has transitioned into the media and the now 71-year-old has spoken on the Inside-In podcast about what he thinks of the current tennis landscape.

One of Lloyd’s concerns related to Grand Slam tournaments, which he believes should remove best-of-five set matches for men’s tournaments to protect the wellbeing of players due to the current tennis schedule, which he has called ‘so bad’.

“I think a lot of this, and probably nobody else is going to agree with me, comes down to the Slams being best of five sets,” said Lloyd. “I have always thought in the last few years, the way the game has just elevated to different levels, and the physicality and just the things that go into making these players play the way they do.

“When you look at it logically, our schedule is so bad. You have got players now who are having a rest time. Finally! The events have literally just finished. So realistically how long do they have now to sit around and totally chill out? Not long. Because they have got to then get ready for the start of next year, and within week they have got a Slam.

“It’s insane. But here is the other thing, you have to prepare physically for best of five. That’s the key.
If the Slams would revert to out of three it’s a different preparation for that. You still have to be in shape. But when you are preparing for a Slam, your training regime is tougher. It’s longer, because you have got to prepare for possibly seven matches that are going to go four hours plus.

“These days, the way these players play, the matches are so physically exhausting. So you come out of a rest period and it’s not very long before you have to start doing something. All of a sudden you are then building up to get right into a major where you have got to train for these ridiculously long matches that can go on forever.

“Plus with the way the schedule works you could be playing matches until 3am, which is also the most ridiculous thing our sport has in three out of the four slams. Wimbledon is the only one that doesn’t because they have to stop by 11pm. You have this ridiculous scenario where people can be playing to two or three in the morning, it’s ludicrous what that takes out of your body.

“So you have this big Slam you work up to, and you finish that, and taper down a bit but not for too long because then you have the Masters series and then two big ones come up pretty soon back to back, with Indian Wells and Miami.

“That is just physically ridiculously demanding when you have back to backs, and then you go further on in the year and you have got to train and build up to get ready for the French, followed by Wimbledon. You can’t taper off, your training level has got to keep up to this extreme level to play five sets. You get over Wimbledon and you have a couple of weeks, then you have to start training again to get ready for the five sets at the US Open.

“I am a big believer that while the Slams remain best of five sets for the men we are going to have more and more injuries and we are going to have more pull outs and this is going to happen. We will get more pull outs in Slams unless we change the format in my opinion.”

The length of Grand Slam matches have been widely spoken about before, often relating to whether women’s players should compete in best-of-five set matches.

While many players and fans would not be in support of Lloyd’s idea, former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios also believes that there should be a change to Grand Slam formats.

How many five set matches were played at Grand Slams this year?

Although five set matches can test players to their physical limits, they can also produce some of the best matches of all time.

This was displayed earlier this year, when Alcaraz beat Jannik Sinner in a French Open final that lasted five hours and 29 minutes.

The French Open final was one of 98 five set matches that took place this year, with the Australian Open having more five set matches than any other major tournament in 2025.

Although Lloyd has called for best-of-five set matches to be removed, there does not seem to be any signs of that happening anytime soon.

The next Grand Slam tournament is the Australian Open, where Alcaraz will look to complete the Career Slam.