Week two of Roland Garros has now arrived, with many top players having suffered early exits at the Grand Slam.
Jannik Sinner lost to Juan Manuel Cerundolo in round two in Paris, where Novak Djokovic was beaten by Joao Fonseca in round three.
Their shock exits have blown the ATP draw wide open, with the same to be said of the WTA draw given the third round losses of American duo Coco Gauff and Amanda Anisimova.
But arguably a bigger overall storyline at Roland Garros has been the extreme heat, with Sinner among the players to suffer in the tricky conditions.
That physicality standpoint has now been discussed by a former coach of Serena Williams, who has called on all four Grand Slams to make a major change to benefit the male players.
How would you solve the tennis injury crisis?
Rick Macci calls for Grand Slams to be best-of-three sets
Amid many lengthy ATP matches at the clay-court Grand Slam, Rick Macci has now posted on X: “Ask most players and the Slams should be best-of-three.
“As you can see 4, 5, 6-hour matches might be exciting to the fans but the physical and mental toll as the tournament unfolds in 2026 is way too much.
“The sport is very different from a physicality standpoint.
“More players will get injured and not be at 100% for the next match or next.
“Time to flip the script and do what is just common sense for the players because the players are the sport.”
It’s an intriguing argument from Macci, but one that many fans would disagree with given the drama that comes with matches going the distance.
If you could change one rule in tennis what would it be and why?
ATP players break Open Era Grand Slam record at Roland Garros
Of course, there is already an ongoing debate about the format of Grand Slams, but again it seems unlikely to change.
Men currently play best-of-five sets at the four major tournaments, while women play best-of-three sets.
Notably, tennis fans don’t think women should play best-of-five sets at the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open.
The calendar is, of course, currently focused on Roland Garros, where there is an unsurprising debate around the format.
A huge nine of the 16 matches in round three went to a fifth set, breaking the previous Open Era record of seven.
Most significantly, rising star Fonseca defeated veteran Djokovic, coming from behind to win 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 in an epic encounter.
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