The WTA and ATP tours are now preparing for another season, having just experienced plenty of drama and entertainment in 2025.
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz were the stars of the ATP Tour, once again combining to share the four Grand Slam titles.
On the WTA Tour, various players shone at various stages of the season, although Aryna Sabalenka continued her dominance at world number one.
But amid the success stories, there were a handful of negative issues to deal with, primarily injuries and withdrawals amid the busy schedule.
Should women play best-of-five sets at Grand Slams?
Daria Kasatkina claims women’s Grand Slam matches have been more interesting than men’s
WTA star Daria Kasatkina has now referenced one key aspect of the schedule on The Sit-Down podcast, where she shared her verdict on the current level of women’s tennis.
She said: “The level is so high, honestly. I will get a lot of criticism for this probably, but I don’t care. I think in the last few Grand Slams, the women’s matches were more interesting than the men’s.
“But, because men play best of five in the finals only because of the last match [people] remember it. For example, Sinner versus Alcaraz in the final of Roland Garros was unbelievable. It was a great match. But the tournament, the two weeks before, were not as entertaining as the final match.
“And with the girls unfortunately the whole two weeks, they don’t remember the matches because the final was not as entertaining.
“The point here is that the final is a very specific tennis match, where if you lose the first set and play best-of-three, and you start losing in the second then most probably the match is over.
“However, on the men’s side if you play best-of-five and you have lost two sets in a row, you still have a chance. So in the third set it’s already a completely different story, we have seen so many comebacks like that.
“So in my opinion we cannot judge the women’s Tour based on just the final of the Grand Slams they play.”
Daria Kasatkina says what would happen if women played best-of-five sets
As eight-time WTA champion Kasatkina noted, the men’s French Open final was indeed an unbelievable clash.
Alcaraz eventually outlasted Sinner after five hours and 29 minutes, but there was also an epic two-hour, 38-minute WTA final between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka.
Perhaps unsurprisingly following her comments, Kasatkina was asked if women should be playing best-of-five sets.
The former world number eight replied: “It’s a very tough question because the tournaments are already two weeks long. If we are best-of-five for the girls, what do we have to do? The tournaments are going to be one month.
“Girls can play best-of-five, but the thing is the audience, do they want to watch matches best-of-five sets? It’s difficult.
“Except for the final of a Slam, how many best-of-five matches did you watch from the first point to the last? Not many.
“So it’s a great format in terms of keeping the history, and unbelievable matches have been played best-of-five.
“But it’s been in discussions forever what we do with this format, because it’s great but people get tired watching this.
“I am not the right person to answer this question. I honestly don’t know. But I think the girls can play best-of-five and we would see great outcomes of these matches for sure.
“But is it worth it? I don’t know. What is the calendar going to look like if we are going to have four tournaments a year where [all the matches are best-of-five]?”
Who is your favorite player on the WTA Tour right now?
It’s certainly an interesting debate, particularly with the calendar already causing plenty of issues for many players.
Iga Swiatek thinks the schedule is “crazy”, although intriguingly her fellow WTA star Qinwen Zheng has no problem with the calendar.
Of course, as is always the case with such important issues in all of sports, not just tennis, the powers that be won’t be able to please every single player.
Fans, sponsors, media and other factors must also be considered when discussing such a drastic change, which doesn’t seem likely at this moment in time.
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