The second Grand Slam of the 2026 season is arriving shortly, with many top ATP and WTA players set to take on the French Open.
Ahead of the clay-court tournament in Paris, the discussion about the format of Grand Slams for men and women has continued.
Currently, men play best-of-five sets and women play best-of-three at Grand Slams, and tennis fans don’t think women should play best-of-five sets.
ATP Tour legend John McEnroe has now weighed in on the debate, alongside WTA Tour icon Maria Sharapova.
Should women play best-of-five sets at Grand Slams?
John McEnroe proposes Grand Slam format change
Five-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova was asked on Rushmore: “Why have they not changed, at least for the finals in the majors, women to be five sets?”
She replied: “Why would they? Would you want to watch that? You would want to watch from the first point to the last, women’s three-out-of-five? No chance. I don’t believe it.”
McEnroe then commented: “They did do that for a few years in the women’s in Madison Square Garden, where they used to have the final eight top players for a couple years, two or three years.
“Like [Martina] Navratilova, I think [Monica] Seles, played best of five, and it wasn’t a total disaster. Not necessarily more competitive. But there’s a lot of times where a two-hour movie is better than a three-and-a-half-hour movie.”
Sharapova then posed the question: “Don’t you think the quality will go down, like from the first set to the fifth set?”
And McEnroe concluded: “The endurance of men goes down also. A lot of times in the fifth set, guys are both tired.
“I believe that there should be best-of-five, where at two sets all there’s a 10-point breaker. That’s sort of a compromise.”
It’s an intriguing proposition from the seven-time Grand Slam champion, although it remains unlikely that such a change will take place anytime soon.
Which WTA player would benefit the most from playing best-of-five sets?
Tennis Grand Slams are currently dealing with a bigger issue
Much more pressing for the current generation of players is the prize money debate, around which a boycott has been discussed.
WTA number two Elena Rybakina would support a Grand Slam boycott, which was recently discussed by Aryna Sabalenka.
The current top 10 on the ATP and WTA tours feel aggrieved by the distribution of revenue at the four major tournaments, but again their calls for improved conditions have yet to be answered.
Sam Querrey thinks unity is key to a Grand Slam boycott, in which players further down the rankings must also get involved to incite real change.
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