Former WTA star Danielle Collins reacted hilariously after Australian Open Director Craig Tiley suggested a notable change in Grand Slam matches of women’s tennis. The men play best-of-five set matches in Grand Slam events, but the women play best-of-three. Tiley wants to change that and Collins may not be a fan of it.
Tiley is open to changing the women’s match format at the Australian Open so that women can play best-of-five-set matches, at least in the quarters, semis, and finals. The change could come as early as 2027, but it will be preceded by thorough consultation.
“One of the things I’ve been saying now is that I think there should be three out of five sets for women,” Tiley said. “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.”
The change could come as early as 2027, but it will be preceded by thorough consultation.
“Certainly if we’re going to do it and we think it’s the right thing, we’ll definitely go in 2027,” Tiley said. “So there’s nothing in the rules stopping that from happening. But we need to do it with really deep consultation with the players. There are going to be people who say this is ridiculous and others who say it is a good idea. The idea is to have a discussion.”
Tiley arrived at this thought after witnessing two epic semifinals among the top four seeds in men’s side. Both encounters, Carlos Alcaraz vs Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic vs Jannik Sinner, went till five sets. Even the final between Alcaraz and Djokovic went till four sets.
After learning this reaction, Collins took to Instagram and wrote:
“I feel like I’m about to go into cardiac arrest just thinking about playing three out of five.”
This suggests Collins is not in favor of such a change and she might not be alone.
Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka’s Previous Suggestions After Latest Australian Open Director’s Suggestion
This is not the first time that the thought of best-of-five set matches has been floated in women’s tennis. However, several top players are not in favor of this change. This includes World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who finished runner-up in the 2026 Australian Open.
“Probably physically I’m one of the strongest ones, so maybe it would benefit me. But I think I’m not ready to play five sets,” Sabalenka said at 2024 Wimbledon. “I think it’s too much on the woman’s body. I think we’re not ready for this amount of tennis. I think it would increase the amount of injuries. So I think this is not something I would consider.”
Gauff is also in favor of keeping things exactly the way they were.
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