Craig Tiley, the Australian Open Tournament Director, ignited a serious discussion about women playing five-set tennis after he revealed plans to introduce the format at the Australian Open.
Tiley confirmed that he would like to introduce best-of-five matches from the quarter-finals onwards, sparking a debate among professional tennis players.
Danielle Collins offered a tongue-in-cheek response to the proposed plans, while Madison Keys has called for a change to men’s tennis at Grand Slams.
Patrick Mouratoglou, the former coach of Serena Williams and Simona Halep, has weighed in on the issue.
Do you think women should play best-of-five set matches?
Patrick Mouratoglou says women should play five-set matches at Grand Slams
Mouratoglou [pictured below], who has also worked with Holger Rune and Naomi Osaka, did not mince his words when discussing the topic on his Instagram account.
“Of course they can,” he said. “And that would close the discussion, I mean, a piece of the discussion about equal prize money. Guys say we work way more, we play five sets they play only three.
“That would close the problem of the night sessions at Roland Garros: ‘We cannot put a woman on the night session because it can be 6-1, 6-1 in 40 minutes, and people pay for a ticket for one match. I mean, we’ll be in trouble. Okay, they play five sets? That is different.’
“So I 100 per cent think it should be five sets and women would show that they can do it and I know they can.”
For the majority of the Open Era, female players have contested three-set matches on the professional circuit.
The only period where this did not occur was between 1984 and 1998, when the final of the WTA Finals was contested under the five-set format.
The last player to win the WTA Finals under this format was Martina Hingis, who defeated Lindsay Davenport 7-5, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in the final.
Is Rybakina the best player on the WTA Tour right now?
If not, who is better?
The longest women’s Grand Slam match in the Open Era
In 2011, Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova contested the longest women’s match at a Grand Slam in tennis history.
Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champion, defeated Kuznetsova 6-4, 1-6, 16-14 in four hours and 44 minutes at the 2011 Australian Open.
After the contest, Schiavone said: “It’s one of the most emotional moments of my life. When you’re in a situation like this, every point is like a match point. Physically, you’re tired. You just keep going.”
After winning the fourth-round marathon, Schiavone lost in the quarter-finals to Caroline Wozniacki, 6-3, 3-6, 3-6.
Kim Clijsters won the event, defeating Li Na in the final.
