Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, and Others in Line of Fire as Ex-Champ Demands Rule Change

For years, the best-of-five format in tennis has been a point of debate, especially when it comes to women’s matches. The French Open used this as a defense to not schedule night sessions for women’s matches. Tournament director Amélie Mauresmo pointed out that women’s matches finish quicker than men’s, making them less ideal for the spotlight. Coco Gauff, Ons Jabeur, and other WTA stars stood against this notion. That argument got even more attention after the Wimbledon final. Iga Swiatek crushed Amanda Anisimova with a double bagel in just 57 minutes, a match so quick it felt like it ended before it began. Should women also play the best-of-five sets? Well, a former WTA legend thinks it’s time to bring that format into the discussion again.

Just to compare timelines: when Swiatek wrapped up her Wimbledon final in under an hour, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner were only two games into the second set of their 3-hour and 4-minute epic. That kind of contrast makes a solid case for five-set tennis offering something extra.

Former Wimbledon champ Marion Bartoli agrees. “Women are absolutely capable of playing best-of-five sets,” Bartoli said in a chat with CLAY and RG Media in London. Still, she doesn’t think that one short final should be the reason to push for a rule change. “That final was special, so I don’t think you can take that one example and extrapolate it to say that women should play best-of-five. Usually, we see longer finals, like the one at Roland Garros. It’s a discussion the players need to have with the WTA,” she added.

The former World No.7 believes her generation was also ready for the challenge. “Players from my generation could have taken on the challenge too. Absolutely,” she said. “Maybe not for the entire Grand Slam, but at least from the semifinals onwards. Both in my time and now, women are physically ready for it. We’ve played matches lasting over three, even three and a half hours, which is how long the men’s Wimbledon final lasted. Of course we could do it.”

It’s not a new concept in women’s tennis. From 1984 to 1998, the WTA Finals used a best-of-five format in the championship match. Steffi Graf won the event five times during that period, and twice she needed all five sets, once against Anke Huber in 1995 and again versus Martina Hingis in 1996. Another five-set battle happened in 1990 when Monica Seles beat Gabriela Sabatini. These three matches are the only five-setters played by women in the Open Era. That’s a tiny slice of history, but a meaningful one.

Still, Bartoli made it clear that this decision belongs to today’s players, not those who have already hung up their rackets. And what do the current stars think?

WTA players like Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka weigh in on the best-of-five format

World No. 1, Aryna Sabalenka, gave a blunt response and said, “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 set. It is too demanding for the female body; women are not prepared to play that amount of tennis, and injuries would increase significantly.”

Her comment points to a larger issue: the current system only trains players for three-set matches. So even the fittest athletes may not be prepared for a sudden jump in intensity.

Top Comment by SimoTennis

I agree with Pegula. Shorten men’s slams to three sets. Too long.

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Debate

World No.2  Coco Gauff echoed a similar statement about best-of-five sets. “It would favor me just from a physicality standpoint. But I do think it would kind of be a big change for the tour. I think it would be fine just keeping it like how it is,” the American said.

Jessica Pegula, the world No. 4, offered another take. She thinks it’s the men who should shorten their matches. “Would I want to play three out of five? No, I think I would rather the men play two out of three,” she said at Wimbledon. “To me, it’s just too long, and I personally lose interest watching the matches. I think they’re incredible matches physically and mentally, but I’m just like, do we really need that?”

Naomi Osaka had her own take. The four-time Slam champ said, “Honestly, I feel like out of all the things to be equal, that might be like one of the most nit-picky things. I’ve also just grown up my whole life knowing that men play 5 sets and women play 3 sets. I think it’s a bit hard to change that mentality, for me, personally.”

So while opinions vary, the conversation isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Should women in tennis take on the challenge of five-set matches, or is three just right? What do you think?