The WTA players took the Australian Open final to another level. World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka was eyeing her third AO crown. Elena Rybakina arrived on a mission for her second major title. In the end, it was the fifth seed who shocked the tennis world after coming back in the second set. She walked away with her first Melbourne trophy and inspired Craig Tiley to think big.

On Saturday, Rybakina beat the No.1 Belarusian in a thrilling 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 battle. She lifted her second major title, four years after her Wimbledon triumph. It wasn’t easy. Sabalenka stormed through the second set to level things up. But the clash between the first and fifth WTA seeds had Rod Laver Arena on its feet. It even pushed the tournament director to look ahead.

“I’m still getting chills just thinking about [the 2 men’s SFs],” Tiley told AAP. “Then you can’t replicate that final last night on the women’s side. It was unbelievable. One of the things I’ve been saying now is that I think there should be three out of five sets for women.”

“We should look at the last few matches – QFs, SFs, and F – and make the women’s side three out of five. Certainly, if we’re going to do it and we think it’s the right thing, we’ll definitely go in 2027,” he declared.

Melbourne erupted on Friday. First, world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz outlasted Alexander Zverev in five hours and 27 minutes of edge-of-the-seat drama. Then, 10-time Open king Novak Djokovic beat two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner in a four-hour, nine-minute classic.

Tiley couldn’t hide his admiration after Rybakina’s gripping three-set win over Sabalenka. He noted that the four majors (Melbourne, Paris, London, and New York) each have their own deciding-set tiebreak rules. The Australian Open, he said, has the freedom to experiment. The tournament wouldn’t need the Grand Slam committee’s approval to increase the number of sets for women.

“So there’s nothing in the rules stopping that from happening, but we need to do it with really deep consultation with the players,” he added.

Could a longer WTA match hit Melbourne next season? Maybe. Maybe not. Only time will tell. What’s certain is that women’s matches have always been shorter for reasons that go back decades.

In 1994, Australian Open officials made waves by announcing that the women’s final the next year would be best of five sets. That bold plan didn’t last. Steffi Graf, one of the sport’s biggest voices, led the players’ pushback, and the idea was quickly shelved.

Interestingly, from 1984 to 1998, the WTA’s season-ending championship featured a best-of-five-sets final. It was an exciting era of endurance battles on the women’s tour, but that experiment eventually gave way to the familiar three-set format.

Now that women earn equal prize money across all four Grand Slams, debate still swirls about whether both singles draws should go the same distance. Although the WTA stars may not agree.

Australian Open finalist shares her thoughts on five-set matches

Aryna Sabalenka just can’t seem to catch a break at the Australian Open. Last year, she fell short in the final to Madison Keys. This time, Elena Rybakina, her old nemesis from the 2025 WTA Finals, did it again. Still, the Belarusian remains at the top of the rankings, sitting proudly as World No. 1 for 75 straight weeks. Yet even from the top, she admits that pushing beyond limits might not be realistic.

The topic came up after that unforgettable five-hour-and-29-minute French Open marathon between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. The epic stirred debate about whether women should also play best-of-five matches at the Grand Slams. Sabalenka doesn’t think it’s a good idea, even though she knows the format could favor her incredible fitness.

“Possibly, playing best-of-five sets would benefit me because I am one of the physically strongest,” the world No. 1 said. “But even so, I do not think I am ready for it. It is too demanding for the female body; women are not prepared to play that amount of tennis, and injuries would increase significantly. So I think this is not something I would consider. I’ll leave this thing for guys to handle.”

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She might be right, but the conversation is hardly new. Back in 2023, tennis legend Billie Jean King shared her own take on the issue on The Tennis Podcast. As always, King looked at the bigger picture of audiences, business, and broadcast realities.

“We have to think about their audiences first and their sponsors are really important. Streaming is getting more important, not just free TV. We have to analyze what isn’t hell of a curve behind it, we got a lot of work ahead of us,” she said.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion added, “There are majors that play 3 out of 5 sets. I think the women should play 3 out of 5 sets or everyone should play 2 out of 3. But if they play 3 out of 5 sets, then that means they have more content.”

So, the debate rolls on. Should women’s matches go the distance or stay as they are? For now, it’s up to the sport’s decision-makers to figure it out. What do you think? Is it time for a change, or is three sets the perfect fit? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!