Rick Macci’s call to scrap best-of-five has revived a Grand Slam debate from the 1970s

Follow us on Google Discover

The 1970s saw a significant change in the structure of men’s tennis matches.

In 1973, the Australian Open rolled out a new format that shifted first-round matches from five sets to three. The French Open made a similar adjustment, using three-set matches for the first two rounds between 1973 and 1975.

The US Open also experimented with shorter matches, using three-set formats in the opening three rounds during 1975, 1976, and again in 1978. In 1977, they even extended it to cover the first four rounds.

Despite these changes, none of them lasted. The traditional five-set format eventually returned across all men’s Grand Slam tournaments.

Rick Macci believes ATP Grand Slam matches should shift to best-of-three

Rick Macci, who once coached the Williams sisters, has shared his thoughts on the format used in ATP Grand Slam events.

He took to social media platform X [Twitter] to say: “Grand slams should 100 per cent go best two out of three. Almost all the players, if they voted, would agree.”

“To keep 3 out of 5 with the physical nature of the game the human mind and body if that player is involved in four-hour matches back to back to back, is toast and will be a ghost.”

“If you play long matches at Slams it really can hurt your chances in later rounds because physically it can take days or even weeks for your body to recover. I see more injuries happening because everyone hits so hard now and moves so well,” Murray said.

Billie Jean King’s earlier comments on match length resurface

During a BBC Sport interview at the WTA Finals launch in Singapore back in 2018, she pointed out that men’s matches often dragged on too long and argued that fans care more about quality than quantity.

She also mentioned that women were open to playing five-set matches but emphasised that “people want quality over quantity”.