Every so often, a debate bubbles up around whether it makes sense for men to keep playing best-of-five-set matches at Wimbledon and other Grand Slam tournaments. Consider Novak Djokovic a staunch advocate for keeping the format — at least in the latter stages of majors. (More Tennis News)
He wo📖uld be OK, however, with cutting back to best-of-thr💙ee earlier.
Thirty-four matches went the distance at the All England Club across the first three rounds, the most to that point at any Slam in the history of the Open era, which began💎 in 1968.
As the fourth of seven rounds began Sunday, all it was going to take♛ was one more five-setter to equal the mark for the most at a😼n entire major tournament.
“Nowadays, you can only see them in Grand Slams, right? That's what I guess excites both players and the crowd,” said Djokovic, who has won seven of his men's-record 24 major cham💎pionships at Wimbledon.
The allure is tied to the drama assoc♓iated with the possibiliꦺty of comebacks, of twists and turns. Perhaps he's a bit biased: Djokovic is 40-11 in five-setters.
“I enjoyed those throughout my career,” he said. “They're an important 💯aspect of the history and of the future, as well, of the sport.”
But, the 37-year-old from Serbia, who has spent the most weeks ranked No. 1, did concede that there is merit to arguments made against ꦍsticking with the best-of-five format in this day and age of limited attention spans and, as Djokovic put it, the need "to attract a young audience.”
Five-set matches that can last for four, five, or six hours💎 are not ideal for athletes, of course, but also spectators or TV broadcasters.
“The only thing♏ that I'm maybe thinking it could be good to consider is ... opening rounds that could go best-of-three, then you move into the hybrid of best-of-fives from the fourth rounds or quarters. I don't know. That's just me,” he said.
“I thi▨nk best-of-five, particularly iꦆn the last three or four rounds of a Slam, you need to keep.”
Without best-of-five, the sport would lose the sort🦋s of turnarounds that have been happening at Wimbledon at an unprecedented rate: Djokovic's opponent in the fourth round on Monday, Holger Rune, won his match Saturday night against Quentin Halys 1-6, 6🔯-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-1, already the 10th comeback from a two-set deficit.
Less than halfway through the fort꧟night, that is a record for a full Wimbledon.
“Managed to raise my level, raise my tennis, when it m🙈attered,” said Rune, who had never won a match after dropping the first two sets.
The All England Club has hosted some of the sport's longest matches, including, most famously, the longest ever: John Isner's 11-hour, 5-m༒inute defeat of Nicolas Mahut in the first round in 2010 that stretched over three days and concluded at 70-68 in the 🍃fifth set.
That, and Isner's 26-24 loss to Kevin Anderson in the decisive set in the 2018♐ semi-finals, helped prompt Wimbledon — and every Slam — to adopt a first-to-10 tiebreaker at 6-all in tဣhe third sets of women's matches and fifth sets of men's.
B🌌efore that system was put in place, the All England Club briefly tried a tie-breaker at 12-all in the fifth, which was how Djokovic's victory over Roger Federer in the 2019 final was resolved.
“One of the most exciting matches I've ever p💮layed in my life,” Djokovic called it.
Might feel differently if he hadn't erased two championship p♔oints and come out on the winn𝓡ing end.
Still, the wear a💮nd tear that comes with playing five sets makes players keen to avoid going the distance. So, they can conserve energy for later matches.
Djokovic hasn't been pushed to five yet during this tournament, but defending champion Carlos Alcaraz was by Frances Tiafoe, for example.
That's nothing compared to Ben Shelton, a 21-year-old American, who needed to win three five-setters in a row to make it to his showdown against No. 1 Jannik Sinner on Sunday.
This year's Australian Open had a total of 35 five-setters, tied with the 🦄1983 US Open for the most at a major. Why are there🔴 so many lately?
“There's just so many good players right now. There's not really any (easy) draws👍 — maybe if you play some clay-court guys on grass that are not comfortable. But for the most part, everybody's playing good on all surfaces. And, the level of tennis is at a super, super high stage,” said Denis Shapovalov, who lost t♐o Shelton in five on Saturday. “You just have to be ready to grind from Round 1.”
