Aryna Sabalenka would relish the task of having to play best-of-five matches at Grand Slam tournaments, but some of her peers have the opposite view.
The debate about whether to lengthen the duration of women’s matches was recently triggered by Craig Tiley, who was the CEO of Tennis Australia until moving to a similar role with the United States Tennis Association this month. Tiley proposed that women’s matches should be best-of-five from the quarter-final stage, based on what he said is ‘research showing interest grows as the match goes on.’
“As a sport, we need to evolve.” He told reporters earlier this year.
There is no evidence to suggest that Tiley’s suggestion might come to anything in the near future. However, at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, the idea has received plenty of attention from players, with the women’s world No.1 lending her backing.
“I feel like physically I’m really strong, and I’m pretty confident that my body can handle that. So let’s do it,” Sabalenka commented.
“I guess it’s a lot of fitness work to be done for others, but I feel like we’re in sport and we have to care about ourselves, and I feel like if they do it, I have a huge advantage.” She added.
Coco Gauff is another leading WTA figure who believes she would perform well in best-of-five matches. However, the idea of changing the format of matches midway through the tournament is something she has reservations about.
“It probably would favor me, because I’m physically up there with the best, but I mean, I probably wouldn’t want to see that happen, and if it were to happen,” Gauff commented.
“I would prefer it to be the whole tournament, not just the quarters. I think changing the format in the middle of the tournament defeats the purpose of the playing field.”
There are also issues surrounding any move to change the format, particularly when it comes to scheduling. Another problem could be backlash from others on the Tour, who have voiced their opposition.
Iga Swiatek argues that such a move would be counter-productive because ‘everything is becoming faster in the world.’ The Pole has played in 28 majors, winning the French Open four times, as well as the 2022 US Open and 2025 Wimbledon Championships.
“I don’t know if we would be able to keep the quality for five sets. Well, that’s a fact, like, men are more physically strong and they can handle it for sure better.” Said Swiatek.
“We have never practiced in a way to prepare for that, so we would need to change, I think, our whole calendar because the Grand Slams would be so tough. I don’t think we would have time to prepare for any other tournaments.
“I don’t think it would change anything for good.”
Jessica Pegula is another player to question the impact it could have on a player’s preparations for the majors and its impact on their tournament schedule. The American was recently appointed chair of the WTA’s new Tour Architecture Council. A council set up to review the women’s tennis calendar and Tour rules, such as mandatory participation.
“I think we have amazing female athletes that honestly I think we could do that,”she said. “I don’t think it’s the fact that we can’t. I just don’t necessarily think that we should.
“On that aspect, I don’t even know how you would schedule tournaments. We’d have to add weeks. We can’t even get through the schedule now. So I’m not really sure for like a fan experience how that would really work.
Meanwhile, Elena Rybakina doubts whether playing best-of-five matches would add any significant value to the women’s game.
“I think it’s a huge change and I don’t think it might be interesting for the people because they maintain the level for so many sets, I think it’s going to be quite difficult.” Rybakina explained.
“I think it’s a tricky topic, and me, as a player, I would say I wouldn’t want to play three out of five, to be honest.”
Best-of-five matches have been used on the WTA Tour before at the year-end finals. Between 1984 and 1998, the title matches were played in this format. During this period, there were only three occasions when matches went to five sets.
