Legacy vs Modernization: That has been the undertone of the debate that has been surrounding best-of-five set tennis. With the debate raging on both sides of the argument, former World No.1 John McEnroe has had his say, and the American great is all in favor of removing the fifth set and replacing it with a ten-point match-tiebreak. However, his notions were not met with encouragement by former Top-20 player Jan-Michael Gambill.
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“I’m not a proponent of taking away the fifth set,” said Gambill on the Inside In podcast. ” I think especially if you work so hard, you play four sets and then you’re going to play a 10-pointer for the fifth. I mean that’s a joke, I think that’s an actual joke and that sells athletes short. It sells what’s really hard short.”
While traditionalists have argued for preserving the format, the modern push to shorten it aims to produce more broadcast-friendly matches and to avoid late-night finishes, which have become the norm at Grand Slams. The arguments have picked up steam after multiple matches at the recently concluded US Open went past 2 a.m., with the high-profile clash between Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton finishing past 3:30 a.m.
McEnroe is not the only one who has suggested tweaks to the existing five-set format. It was Novak Djokovic who started the ball rolling before the US Open, with the Serb arguing for four games per set instead of six, while removing the ad scoring system. Given that the Serb had just played a match over five hours at Wimbledon at the age of 39, one could understand his point of view in arguing for shortened matches at Grand Slams.
McEnroe’s idea of having a match tiebreaker instead of a fifth set has the precedent of working well with audiences. At the Laver Cup, players have a ten-point match-tiebreaker after two traditional six-game sets. However, even though it comes after two sets, the tiebreaker at the Laver Cup is a popular element and could work well at high-profile Grand Slam matches.
The idea of removing the ad-scoring also has logical merit, as five-set matches often become elongated by lengthy deuce games, in which the server struggles to serve it out to one side of the court. On the other hand, Gambill’s arguments hold water as well, as shortened matches take away the advantage from physically fit players who might not be as gifted as some other players, but do have a slight edge in longer matches.
Even though former greats like McEnroe and Tour veterans like Djokovic have proposed various changes to the format, current-generation stars, including Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, have gone in the other direction.
Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev Have Spoken in Favor of Five-Set Tennis
It seems that the current-generation stars are all for long matches. Currently playing at the Japan Open, Carlos Alcaraz came out in vehement support of the five-set format, highlighting its legacy, as some of the greats of the game have been engaged in iconic five-set battles, including Alcaraz in recent times.
“All the Grand Slams are playing the best of five,” said Alcaraz. “If we take away that and playing the best of three, I think we’re just killing the legacy of the Grand Slams and killing the Grand Slams, I would say. We’ve been playing the best of five in the Grand Slams since the very beginning. I think that’s what makes those tournaments different and special. I wouldn’t touch anything from that. For me, it’s okay to play the best of five.”
Alcaraz was not the only one. Alexander Zverev also supported the notion of playing five-set tennis. The German made the same argument for protecting the legacy while pointing out the difficulty of winning five-set matches, which makes winning a Slam worthwhile.
“It’s history. It’s the toughest thing to win in our sport because we play best-of-five sets,” Zverev said at the China Open. “It’s physically one of the most extreme things that you can go through.”
Both Alcaraz and Zverev excel in five-set tennis, using their physicality to gain an advantage in matches. The loss against Ben Shelton in New York was only the second five-set loss that Alcaraz has faced, with the Spaniard already playing some iconic five-set battles against his rival Jannik Sinner at the 2022 US Open and at the 2025 French Open.
On the other hand, given that Zverev was long dubbed the ‘best player to have not won a Major’ by fans and experts, the German is well-suited to speak about the difficulties of five-set tennis compared to most others. He himself benefitted from the match being five sets during his title run at the US Open, especially in his first-round match against Lorenzo Sonego, where the World No.2 had made his exit if the match was a best-of-three-set contest.