Hi Jon,
The debate about whether the men should continue to play best-of-five set matches at the majors is a long-running one. As anyone who has seen a video of the flannel-slacked gentleman players of yesteryear knows, the sport is a lot more physical than it was when the scoring system was imported from court tennis for the first Wimbledon in 1877. At the same time, evolving ideas about gender equality now leave many people wondering why the men play best-of-five and the women only play best-of-three.
I get it. Outside of the later rounds at the majors, it’s the rare best-of-five match that I’ll watch from start to finish. And when I hear someone call best-of-five “the ultimate test in tennis,” part of me wants to respond, “So why don’t the women get to take the same test?”
That said, best-of-five is still sacrosanct to me. A Slam that’s only best-of-three wouldn’t be a Slam in my mind. That may not be logical, because I don’t feel the same way about the women’s majors. And if the men had played best-of-three from the beginning, I doubt I would be campaigning for them to stay out there longer. But the fact is, after 148 years of best-of-five, anything less would seem…miniature, not grand.
Outside of the later rounds at the majors, it’s the rare best-of-five match that I’ll watch from start to finish.
Normally, I’m OK with the havoc that best-of-five plays with schedules, and the severe physical test it subjects players to. The majors still bring out the best in the top guys; the matches they produce have only grown more epic; and the format hasn’t derailed them with injuries or shortened their careers.
But this US Open has been especially heavy on five-setters, and this past weekend it took a toll. Three players—Flavio Cobolli, Kamil Majchrzak, and Daniel Altmaier—had to retire on Saturday after winning marathons on Thursday. Tommy Paul surely ran out of gas on Saturday night because he was playing his second wee-hour five-setter in a row. And the player who beat him, Alexander Bublik, had the same thing happen against Jannik Sinner.
Should we change the rules because these guys lost? Of course not. But I know that, while you’re good with best-of-five, you feel like men’s Slam matches in general are too long. And I know you’ve thought about a different solution for a while now.
Maybe we can talk about it here.
