‘Is there anything wrong with that?’ – John McEnroe wants shorter men’s matches at Grand Slams

ByBen Snowball

Updated 27/05/2022 at 12:49 GMT

Why would you want to lose the unpredictability of women’s tennis when you could instead inject that into the men’s game, asks John McEnroe? There have been plenty of calls through the years for women to stop playing best-of-three sets and join the men in the best-of five format, but Eurosport expert and seven-time Grand Slam champion McEnroe has an entirely different suggestion…

Tie-breaks should replace the fifth set in men’s matches at Grand Slams, according to a radical proposal floated by Eurosport expert John McEnroe.

Tennis has long been embroiled in a fierce debate about the disparity between women’s and men’s matches at Grand Slams, with the former decided over best-of-three sets and the latter best-of-five.

Often it has been used as a cheap stick to beat women’s tennis, but McEnroe argues the opposite and says it is the men’s game that needs reforming.

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While the men play best-of-three sets on the ATP Tour, the extended format at the four majors means matches regularly stretch beyond four hours.

McEnroe suggested that the Slams were a war of attrition for the men, with one long match having the ability to severely impact the rest of the tournament, admitting he feared for Carlos Alcaraz after his five-set win over Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

So when asked whether the women's game should move to a best-of-five format at Slams, McEnroe replied: “It probably would be a little bit more predictable because then you would see it become more a question of fitness, more physical.

“That would mean the people who are in incredible shape would win more often.

“I think the argument should be the other way. I think there’s an argument that the men should not be playing for four or five hours. Maybe, god forbid, there should be some compromise. My compromise would be best-of-five but at two sets all, play a 10-point tie-breaker for the match.

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“I don’t think the answer is for the women to go best-of-five. I think the answer is for the men to go a little shorter.”

Asked if that would make things more unpredictable on the men’s side, he continued: “Is there anything wrong with that?”

The best-of-five format has been cited as part of the reason behind Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer’s stunning stranglehold - one that has yielded 61 major trophies between them - with the physical and mental demands of winning three sets against the tennis GOATs making an upset even more unlikely.

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