Alexander Zverev has strong opinion on playing best-of-five sets at Grand Slams
Male players continue to rally against a potential changes to the best-of-five set format at Grand Slams.
Speaking at the Japan Open, Alcaraz urged Grand Slams to keep the traditional format.
“We would be killing the Grand Slam legacy,” said Alcaraz about a potential change to the format. “We have been playing best-of-five matches at the Grand Slams from the very beginning, and I think that is what makes those tournaments different and special.”
Now, Zverev has become the latest top male player to defend the best-of-five format, when asked about the potential change while at the China Open.
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“I think winning a Grand Slam is one of the hardest things in sport because we play five sets, otherwise we could just play Masters events and add four more Masters to the year. A Grand Slam is different because we play best-of-five. It’s history,” said Zverev.
“It’s part of what we do, part of why we physically prepare. Also I don’t agree with the whole debate that attention span and all that because the Australian Open just had record numbers this year. The US Open just had record numbers this year.
“I kind of don’t agree with it because I think the sport of tennis is growing. I don’t know a single player who would like to play best-of-three sets. Yes, maybe Novak wants to play best-of-three because of course he’s getting a bit older now.
“I think if you would have asked him this 10 years ago or 15 years ago, for sure not. It’s history. It’s the toughest thing to win in our sport because we play best-of-five sets.
“It’s physically one of the most extreme things that you can go through. And no, I don’t support it, just to clarify.”
Zverev played two five-set matches on his journey to the US Open title earlier this year. He needed a decider to defeat both Quentin Halys and Lorenzo Sonego in his opening round matches at Flushing Meadows.
Likewise, in the Roland Garros final, when Zverev was looking to win the first Grand Slam title of his career, he needed five sets to beat Flavio Cobolli.
He was even two sets to one down against Sonego, so would have exited at the very first hurdle if the format was shorter. Who knows how many Grand Slam titles Zverev would currently hold if the major tournaments decided to scrap the best-of-five set format?
One thing is certainly for sure: the male players on the ATP Tour are all pretty much in union that they went to keep playing the longer format at Grand Slams.
