Elena Rybakina asked if women should play best-of-five sets as Australian Open considers change
WTA Tour star Elena Rybakina has admitted she would prefer not to play best-of-five-set tennis matches amid talk of the format being adopted at some women’s events.
World No 3 Rybakina is one of the biggest names in the women’s game, and recently claimed her second Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open.
The Kazakh defeated world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a high-quality showdown inside the Rod Laver Arena, adding to the Wimbledon title she previously won in 2022.
The Australian Open has remained at the forefront of tennis innovation in recent years, and tournament director Craig Tiley has suggested that the event may look to introduce best-of-five-set matches in the latter stages of the women’s singles draw.
“One of the things I’ve been saying now is that I think there should be three out of five sets for women,” said Tiley, in quotes reported by AAP.
“We should look at the last few matches — the quarters and the semis and the finals — and make the women’s side three out of five.
“So it’s something we should put on the agenda and start talking to the players about it, because there’s some matches in those last rounds which would have been fascinating had they been three out of five sets.”
Grand Slam men’s singles events are now the only tournaments with five-set matches, with both men and women playing best-of-three matches at every other level of tournament.
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The championship match at the WTA Finals was a best-of-five set contest between 1984 and 1998, with Martina Hingis’ win over Lindsay Davenport in 1998 the last time two women contested an official best-of-five encounter.
WTA Tour stars Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, and Amanda Anisimova were asked for their thoughts on the subject ahead of their campaigns at the Qatar Open, with the trio delivering a rather mixed verdict on the subject.
Rybakina was asked about the idea following her third-round match in Doha, in which she battled from a set down to beat Zheng Qinwen 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 and reach the last eight.
In a similar vein to Swiatek, Gauff, and Anisimova, the 26-year-old admitted some pessimism about the idea.
She said: “I would like to stick to three sets.
“Five, it’s quite a lot. I’m not sure that the quality of the matches would be as good. But I don’t know how much players will have a voice on who is going to decide, but it’s quite difficult.”
No official plans have been put in place by the Australian Open as to whether best-of-five-set matches will be introduced at the tournament in the near future.
However, discussions regarding a potential format change and new innovations in the sport will likely continue, especially considering there are still three more Grand Slam tournaments to be held in 2026.
The French Open will start in May, before Wimbledon in late June, and the US Open in August.
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