Injuries have once again unfortunately been a common theme in tennis this season, with the ongoing Madrid Open among the tournaments impacted.
ATP superstar Carlos Alcaraz was forced out of his home Masters 1000 event with a wrist injury, which is also ruling him out of Rome and Roland Garros.
And on the WTA Tour, Clara Tauson withdrew from the Madrid Open with a shoulder injury, with Madison Keys, Amanda Anisimova and Ekaterina Alexandrova among the other seeded players to have pulled out of the tournament.
Serena Williams’ former coach Rick Macci has now shared his verdict on the injury situation, suggesting that a change needs to take place at Grand Slam level.
How would you solve the tennis injury crisis?
Rick Macci calls for men’s Grand Slams to be best-of-three sets
Macci wrote on X: “Was asked about all the injuries on the tour and the Slams.
“The tour is very different than in the past.
“The travel and the mandatory play is another level or two.
“But the wildcard is the physicality of both tours, especially the men with the athlete, the racquet strings and ball.
“Everything is more dynamic, more explosive and violent and you go five stay alive and then do it again and maybe again and there is a better chance for injury.
“The Grand Slams should be 2 out of 3 with a 3rd set 10-point breaker.
“Time to flip that script [ATP Tour].
Men should stick with best-of-five sets at Grand Slams
Currently, women play best-of-three sets at the four Grand Slam tournaments, while men play best-of-five.
There has been heavy debate of late about the WTA Tour possibly aligning with the ATP Tour, but tennis fans don’t think women should play best-of-five sets.
A change does, however, seemingly need to take place across tennis sooner rather than later given the injury crisis.
Should women play best-of-five sets at Grand Slams?
And that should come in the form of a smarter schedule, which has been campaigned for by many star players in recent years.
That could involve fewer tournaments or fewer mandatory tournaments, or perhaps a longer break at the end of the busy season.
Spacing out tournaments is another approach, and one that may just be more realistic than reducing men’s Grand Slams from five sets to three sets given the appeal of the current format.
Tennis fans want entertainment and gruelling battles, and many may feel short-changed if three-set matches become the norm.
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