"Women have equal prize money so maybe they can play best of 5-sets too" says Stefanos Tsitsipas

Stefanos Tsitsipas puts forth a proposal to make women's matches in Grand Slams 'Best-of-5' as they get equal prize money for playing 'Best-of-3'.

World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas has been one of the very few ‘Next-Gen’ players who have managed to show that they have the skills and talents to compete for the highest honours in tennis. The 23-year old has made consistent runs in Grand Slams for a while and was a set away from winning the 2021 French Open but failed to do so.

Tennis is one of the few sports to have equal prize money for tournaments at least in the Grand Slam events as the Tour events generally vary. Asked about that at the Miami Open Tsitsipas shared his perspective:

“I don’t want to be controversial or anything. There is also the topic of equal pay and everything, women getting equal pay for playing best-of-three, then getting equal pay for playing best-of-five. I don’t know. There are also a lot of scientists and statisticians, whatever, out there. I’ve been told that women have better endurance than men. I don’t know."

He further said:

“Maybe they can also play best-of-five, I guess. For Grand Slams, best-of-five, I like it. On the other side, on the other hand, we would have seen much more variety when it comes to different Grand Slam winners if it was best-of-three, I believe. I very much believe that the winners of Grand Slams would be very different if the format was best-of-three in men."