Sabalenka Backs Five-Set Matches for Grand Slam Tournaments

Aryna Sabalenka, currently at number one in the world rankings and with four Grand Slam singles titles under her belt, voiced strong support for a proposal to switch matches to a best-of-five set format later in Grand Slam tournaments. Speaking ahead of this week’s ATP-WTA tournament in Indian Wells, she cited her physical strength as a key advantage if such a change were implemented.

“Yes, let’s do that,” Sabalenka said when asked about the idea, which was proposed by Craig Tiley, who recently took over as the incoming US Tennis Association chief. “Physically I’m really strong and I’m pretty confident my body can handle it. So let’s do it.”

Tiley suggested switching to five sets from quarter-finals onwards at Grand Slams could help the sport evolve, citing research indicating interest in matches grows as they progress.

“I mean, it probably would favor me because I’m physically up there with the best,” Gauff, a reigning French Open champion and former world number one, admitted. “But I think that if it were to happen, I wouldn’t want to see just quarters, but rather a full tournament.”

However, other top female players had more reservations about the proposal. Six-time Grand Slam champion and former world number one Iga Swiatek was adamantly against changing formats. She pointed out how everything in tennis is becoming faster, questioning whether audiences would actually appreciate such an adjustment.

“For me personally, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to make that change,” Swiatek said, emphasizing the difficulty in maintaining quality play over longer matches and adjusting schedules accordingly. “If we were to switch formats, we’d need more weeks in between tournaments.”

Swiatek also addressed how switching to five sets would impact her career: “We haven’t prepared for it. We would need to change our whole calendar,” she added.

“I think this proposal changes a lot of things and wouldn’t necessarily make anything better,” Swiatek concluded, indicating that the current format is sufficient.

Meanwhile, Jessica Pegula, another top player ranked fifth in the world, echoed her colleagues’ views. She believed women are capable of handling five-set matches but questioned how it could be implemented within the existing schedule without affecting their ability to compete at other tournaments.

“I think we have amazing female athletes that honestly I think we could do that,” Pegula stated. “But on this aspect, I don’t even know if you can really schedule for those changes.”