Tokyo Olympics 2020- ITF Declare Shortening of Tennis Finals

The Tokyo Olympics 2020 is approaching very fast. But there are changes in the match format for the tennis event of Olympics. The International Tennis Federation has announced changes to the format of the match for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. The gold medal men’s singles match will now be played as best-of-three tiebreak sets instead of the previously played best-of-five sets.

Since 1996,  there have been no changes in the match format of tennis events in the Olympics. Since then, the men’s singles matches had been best-of-three sets except in the finals.

The changes by ITF is made in order to standardize the finals with other matches in men’s and women’s singles event. All the other singles matches of the event are played as best-of-three tiebreaker sets.

ITF announced one more change in the doubles event of Tokyo Olympics 2020. The men’s and women’s doubles match will attribute the 10-points tiebreaker at the score of 1-set all. The changes in the format align with the mixed-doubles event.

The changes in the match format decrease the concern of a player playing more after reaching the final stage of the events. ITF announced the changes on Wednesday. ITF said on Wednesday,

The changes will reduce concerns of overplay for players who reach the latter stages of all three events — singles, doubles and mixed doubles

The changes will be put into effect at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Andy Murray defeated Juan Martin Del Potro in the course of four sets in Rio Olympics 2016. But it will be interesting to see who gets the benefit in the finals with the coming of shorter format.

In other news, the doubles matches will also be tweaked for next year’s Olympic Games. In terms of tie breaks, in the deciding set, points will be limited to a maximum of 10, to avoid overplay.