"There should be three out of five sets for women": Australian Open Tournament Director moots huge change in the offing on WTA side
WTASunday, 01 February 2026 at 16:08
As the men took centre spotlight in two of the longest matches ever seen at the Australian Open in the semi-finals, Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley has said why not the women too.
WTA stars play best of three sets as they would at a regular tournament anyway with the same for the men at that level for instance this week when the Abu Dhabi Open, Open Occitanie and Transylvania Open all take place but there is often jibes levelled at WTA tennis that there are complaints surrounding night sessions for instance.
But that they don't play as much tennis anyway so fans are being short changed. With the Australian leg it is less of an issue with for instance even early in the event, Maddison Inglis prior to Naomi Osaka withdrawing and Jovic v Hon being night session prime slot games.
So unlike the French Open for instance, Tiley and his team don't have the same reasonings as perhaps the FFT for wanting change. Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev battled for five hours and 27 minutes while Novak Djokovic needed four hours and nine minutes to beat Jannik Sinner. Patrick Mouratoglou last week argued for it for the reason alluded to that it would also help alleviate debate about equal prize money and also equal footing when it comes to night sessions.
As early as 2027 as changes mooted
On the women's side, both semi-finals of the opening Grand Slam failed to go the distance and albeit the final went three, neither Rybakina or Sabalenka had lost sets prior to the final so were very much untested across a longer distance. But the semi-finals in the men's tournament have added fuel to Tiley's fire that there should be best of five set in majors for women too.
Even as early as 2027 albeit in this case, Tiley is of the admission that it would need to get put on the agenda so whether it gets voted through is another matter but certainly something that will get considered.
“You can’t replicate that (men’s) semi-final day. That was amazing,” the Australian Open tournament director said as per AAP. “I’m still like getting chills just thinking about it, and then you can’t replicate that final last side on the women’s side. It was unbelievable.
“One of the things I’ve been saying now is that I think there should be three out of five sets for women.
“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.
“Now I don’t know whether the players would want to do it or not, but it is something we need to consider on the women’s side.”
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- Those Doping Agents are controlled by the American Government. It an American players test is hot, they are going to sweep it under the carpet.
- Djokovic is the GOAT. He has the most Slams. Simple as that.
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