“Players Not Consulted”- Zverev Blasts Australian Open

As the new tennis season is about to start and the tennis fans globally are awaited for the first major tournament of the year in Melbourne. The Australian Open organisers have decided to change their usual practice of advantage final sets. If the score becomes 6-6 in the final set, the winner will be the first player to reach 10 points. On hearing about this “most extensive consultation in the tournament’s history”, the German lad, Alexander Zverev is not satisfied with the alteration of the usual practice. Zverev criticised the officials of the Melbourne major and stated that the athletes were not conferred for the same.

The World Number four German claimed, “We weren’t (consulted) at all. I don’t think any players were (asked), to be honest. I don’t like the change too much because I think it has something special when you go 12-10 in the fifth set or something like that. I really enjoyed those kind of situations, really enjoy those kind of matches, even though they are physically tough. These are the things we play for, and now, at every Grand Slam except for Roland Garros, there is a tiebreak, which I am not in favour of.”

The Australian Open officials have emulated the similar practice which will be followed at the Wimbledon from this year, in order to avoid the long tennis matches. When the score would become 12-12 in the final set, the final-set tie-breaks will come into play. The officials at Wimbledon declared this major change in October this year after witnessing fews time consuming matches this year. “We believe this is the best possible outcome for both the players and the fans around the world,” said Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley.

The Paris major is the only Grand Slam which will continue with the regular and traditional long deciding set. The US Open the first Grand Slam to put the final-set tie-breaks practice applicable, where the first player to fetch seven points in a game played at 6-6 in the final set is declared the winner. Consequently, all four major tournaments will now use a different format.