Jim Courier makes rule change suggestion after Alex Eala & Iva Jovic’s US Open epic
Jim Courier has raised the suggestion of trialling a radical tennis rule change after Iva Jovic and Alex Eala’s thrilling match at the 2026 US Open.
No 14 seed Jovic defeated 17th seed Eala 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday night in a third round contest lasting more than three hours.
There were 17 breaks of serve in the 33 games played, with Jovic breaking nine times and Eala breaking on eight occasions.
When discussing the match on Tennis Channel, Courier revealed he would like to see an exhibition match where players can only have one serve.
“I think this is a really interesting match, because both of these players are so fantastic with their movement, and besides their serves, their games are amazing,” said the four-time Grand Slam champion.
“The first serves, for both of them, really do need to improve, and it got me thinking: this is the match of the tournament on the women’s side — is this not an advertisement for, maybe, let’s do an exhibition sometime, a trial, in eliminating first serves and seeing what happens?
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“This tennis was incredible. Sometimes, especially in men’s tennis, it can just be a serve fest, and it’s a little less interesting, it’s more target practice.
“This was strategy, this was athleticism and movement, all over the court. For me, it was like a light bulb went off. Like, this is amazing. How can we get more of this?”
The former world No 1 jokingly added: “I [wanted to play with one serve] when I played [Pete] Sampras, but his second serve was basically a first serve, so it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. He’d still crush me (laughs).”
Three-time major winner Lindsay Davenport also gave her verdict on the Jovic-Eala match.
“This match was the match of the tournament so far on the women’s side,” the American said. “It was such high quality from both of these two.
“Iva was inside the baseline for every single second serve return. She won almost 65% of those, absolutely crushing returns. That was a challenge for Eala, whose second serve averaged just 76 miles per hour.
“Her first serve average was also just 86, so what did that do? That allowed Iva to be comfortable in her return position. She didn’t have to make adjustments, and she just kept teeing off to start the rallies.”
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