Andre Agassi played during a golden era of tennis for America, emerging just as Jimmy Connors was inching towards retirement, and competing for decades alongside Pete Sampras.
Together, these stars set the bar supremely high for the standard expected within this country, which is always expected to be among the best.
Naturally, their reign had to end, and when it did, most made the natural transition into punditry.
Andre Agassi, in particular, has flourished into one of the sport’s paramount voices, with his insight lauded whenever it is given.
And, back in 2018, he offered his thoughts on one of the sport’s most engaging and ongoing debates.
Andre Agassi’s opinion on women playing best-of-five sets
Asked to give his thoughts on whether women should consider playing best-of-five set matches, just as the men do at the Grand Slams, he gave a cautious answer.
After all, once upon a time, the men’s game actually used this format for the Masters 1000 tournaments as well, which made physical demands of the ATP Tour even greater.
Do you think women should play best-of-five set matches?
Nowadays, it is not so egregious, but there are still complaints about the tennis schedule that continue to arise.
Agassi, speaking about whether women should shoulder that best-of-five burden too, told Tennis365: “Women can accomplish whatever they want. Of course, they could play five sets; it would bring in another element to the women’s game.
“It would be a lot more challenging for them, and Grand Slams would look very different. Women would have to prepare differently, and the game would change dramatically. They don’t need to play three out of five sets to prove anything to me.”
What have other big names said about women playing best-of-five sets?
Agassi is not the only superstar figure to have spoken on this particular topic.
After all, Andy Murray spoke about women playing best-of-five sets as recently as 2023, and as one of the biggest advocates for the women’s game, his opinion holds great weight.
Aryna Sabalenka actually contested the suggestion earlier this year, noting: “Probably physically I’m one of the strongest ones, so maybe it would benefit me. But I think I’m not ready to play five sets.
“I think it’s too much on the women’s body. I think we’re not ready for this amount of tennis. I think it would increase the amount of injuries. So I think this is not something I would consider.”
Laura Robson, however, was all for it, arguing: “I think women absolutely could play best of five sets.
“I don’t see why we don’t play best of five from quarter-finals onwards. Over the last few years, with the nerves of some playing their first finals, it would help them to have another set to work with.”
Spare just three minutes to take on this A to Z tennis trivia challenge! How many did you get right?
Women actually did play best-of-five sets at the WTA Finals between 1984 and 1998.
This debate arguably reached fever pitch after this year’s Wimbledon final, with Iga Swiatek beating a shell-shocked Amanda Anisimova, 6-0, 6-0.
