Naomi Osaka speaks out against best-of-five matches
Increasing the length of women's games at Grand Slams would "change the structure of tennis," said Naomi Osaka . In her statement, she referred to Stefanos Tsitsipas , who sparked this mind game a few days ago.
by Dennis Heineman
last edit:
Mar 31, 2022, 11:58 am
Osaka was raised on the subject by Miami after their 6-3, 6-4 win over Alison Riske in the fourth round. Earlier in the week, Stefanos Tsitsipas expressed the idea of aligning women's best-of-five matches with prize money being shared equally. Tsitsipas said: "I don't want to be controversial or anything. Women get equal pay for best-of-three matches. I don't know - there are a lot of scientists and statisticians out there. I've been told that women have better stamina than men."
Debate has been going on for some time
The debate over whether men and women should play the same format at Grand Slam events has been around for some time. Some say that both women and men should only play best-of-three matches - like they do on the ATP and WTA tours. An idea that many sports traditionalists reject.
Osaka himself spoke out against best-of-five matches in women's tennis. She said that such a decision would have a major impact on the women's tour and doesn't see it anytime soon: "Does he (Tsitsipas, ed.) play nine sets? If he tries to extend my games, I will extend his," Osaka said Monday. "I do not know. I feel like that would change the structure of tennis. Like people are starting to do things differently in the gym and stuff like that. It would probably take a long time to implement, but this is a man speaking from women's tennis, so I don't think his idea will go through."