The winner of the Paris and New York tournaments has a clear view on the debate.
Alexander Zverev has spoken out strongly against any potential shortening of Grand Slam matches – and believes the majority of the tennis world is on his side. “It’s history,” said Zverev on the sidelines of the ATP tournament in Beijing, referring to the best-of-five format, which repeatedly results in marathon matches in Melbourne, Paris, Wimbledon and New York.
Most recently, Andrew Abdo, the chief executive of the Australian Open organisers, had publicly pondered whether a two-set format could be used, at least in the early rounds of the Slam. However, the tournament subsequently announced that nothing would change next year.
Zverev jokes about Djokovic
For Zverev, this is the right decision. “It’s the hardest thing to win in our sport because we play ‘best-of-five’,” said the French Open and US Open champion: “Physically, it’s one of the most extreme challenges you can go through.”
He added that he didn’t know a single player who was in favour of shortening the format, the 29-year-old noted. “Perhaps Novak (Djokovic) would like to play best-of-three because, of course, he’s getting a bit older now,” joked Zverev: “But I think if you’d asked him that ten or fifteen years ago, he would certainly have said no.”