Novak Djokovic and Felix Auger-Aliassime contested one of the longest matches in Grand Slam history at this year’s Wimbledon Championships.
Djokovic, who was seeking to win a 25th Grand Slam title at the Championships, defeated the Canadian 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 in five hours and 15 minutes.
It was the longest quarter-final match in Wimbledon history.
It was a momentous victory for the Serbian star, who went on to lose in the semi-finals to eventual champion Jannik Sinner.
The circumstances of Djokovic and Auger-Aliassime’s historic battle have prompted Rennae Stubbs to call for a change to the tennis scoring infrastructure.
Rennae Stubbs wants to see tennis matches at Grand Slams changed to best-of-four sets
“I think a balance of that could be best of four, if it goes two sets all, we play a 10 point tiebreak,” Stubbs, who is currently coaching Serena Williams, said on her podcast.
“If we are talking about women’s tennis – and no offence to the women or the men – the women are going to be playing longer matches. I just feel like they will play longer matches because they don’t have the big serves.
“You saw the men’s, they are playing long rallies now as well, but they do have huge serves and win a lot of points on their serve particularly on grass.
“But you are not going to see that quick of a point all of the time, certainly not on clay, where they are playing 40 ball rallies.
If you were in charge of tennis, what is the first rule you would change?
“So I just think if we are going to do it for both, let’s do it for both, and do it two sets all and end it in a ten point tiebreak,” the Australian, a six-time major champion in doubles, continued.
“What’s the difference? When someone says hold on a second we don’t want to finish a match with a 10 point tiebreak? We do! If it gets to 6-6 in the fifth set at every major we play a 10 point tiebreak. So what is the difference?
“I am a tennis purist and I love watching great tennis, but I don’t want to see it for five hours and 15 minutes, which we had to for the quarter finals with Novak and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
“Arguably that f—— Novak for the next match against Sinner. He was dead. Jannik played the most perfect match against Novak in the semi-final. I watched it in person and Novak was just a step slower on everything.
“Is that because he’s 39? Probably. Is Jannik the best player in the world when he’s on? Probably. But if he doesn’t go five and a half hours and goes four hours instead, does he have a little bit extra in his tank? Probably.
“I think there is one way to get around this and we can satisfy everybody. I would like to say from the semis you play best of five and it’s best of four with a 10 point tie-break.
“What an amazing culmination of four amazing sets to go let’s go 10 points for the match.”
Stubbs is far from the first individual to call for a change to the tennis scoring system.
In 2018, legendary tennis figure Billie Jean King advocated for scrapping the five-set infrastructure at Grand Slam events.
“Everyone keeps saying women don’t want to play five sets but I don’t want the men playing five sets anymore – it takes too much out them,” the 18-time major singles champion said, as per BBC Sport.
In 2024, the American tennis legend proposed an overhaul of the scoring system within individual games.
“I think it’s harder to get new people into the sport, particularly young people,” King told tennis.com. “I think we should get rid of 15, 30, 40, game. We should have one, two, three four.
“If you have to win by two then at three-all, do two points in a row or whatever. But get rid of 15, 30, 40 game.”
Wimbledon changed its scoring system for doubles in 2023
Three years ago, Wimbledon made a significant change to their men’s doubles event.
The tournament decided to reduce men’s doubles matches from best of five sets to best of three.
The All England Club said the alteration had the potential to attract a greater number of players to the tournament and provide the referee’s office ‘with greater certainty when scheduling matches during the event.’
In 2022, Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell defeated Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic to win the men’s doubles title, triumphing 7-6 6-7 4-6 6-4 7-6 in four hours and 11 minutes.
This year, Harri Heliövaara and Henry Patten won the men’s doubles title, beating Marcelo Arévalo and Mate Pavić in the final, 7–6, 7–6.
Guo Hanyu and Kristina Mladenovic defeated Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani 6–3, 7–5 to win the Ladies’ Doubles title.
