Craig Tiley Open to the Idea of Bringing Best of Five Format in the Second Week of 2027 Australian Open
Some women's players have already expressed concerns about the five-set match proposals in Grand Slam tournaments.
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Craig Tiley (via X/Australian Open)
Tennis Australia Chief Craig Tiley has announced a proposed five-set match in the women’s singles from next season. This year’s marathon semi-final matches in the men’s singles showed that tennis fans are hungry for more spectacular clashes on the court, but the proposed move in the women’s singles will be from the quarter-finals to the championship match.
Grand Slam tournaments are free to propose rules that make them distinct from one another. In the last two decades, the four major tournaments have adopted different rules for ending a match, from long sets to tie-breaks at different scorelines. However, it was in 2022 that they finally had a unified 10-point match.
However, women’s players have expressed little interest in playing best of five. Many of them, including Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula, have suggested that the sport is currently asking for much from them physically. But Craig Tiley doesn’t hold the same view as he put the same kind of attention that the men’s semi-finals enjoyed into the women’s singles:
I’m still getting chills just thinking about [the 2 men’s SFs], and then you can’t replicate that final last night 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 – QFs, SFs, and F – and make the women’s side three out of five. Certainly, if we’re going to do it and we think it’s the right thing, we’ll definitely go in 2027.
Tennis Australia has been at the forefront of tennis’s changes over the last few years. Last October, the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) announced it was nearing an agreement with the Australian Open after taking tennis governing bodies to court over issues affecting players.
This year, they successfully held the second edition of the One Point Slam before the start of the Melbourne major tournament. The one million Australian dollar prize money attracted top players such as Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Amanda Anisimova, Iga Swiatek, Alexander Zverev, and Flavio Cobolli.
Elena Rybakina claimed the women’s singles Australian Open championship after beating Sabalenka in three sets. The Kazakhstan star won the first set before Sabalenka replied with a stunning rally in the second, and was running away with the victory in the third set 3-0. But Rybakina regrouped and defeated the World No.1 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Australian Open chief hopes to deal with Melbourne’s intense heat conditions next year
During the 2026 Australian Open, the heat intensity exceeded the usual scale. During Jannik Sinner’s third-round match against Eliot Spizzirri, the heat index exceeded 41°C in Melbourne, affecting the Italian star’s performance. The Rod Laver Arena roof had to be closed for the 24-year-old to continue after struggling with cramps.
In the aforementioned show at the tournament, Craig Tiley was asked what his future Australian Open tournament will be despite the current climatic conditions. The Australian Open chief noted that the tournament is hoping to have translucent cover in the sky to limit rainfall and the heat conditions:
We’ve got to be climatically smart. I’d like to see the entire precinct covered in a translucent cover – when you look up, you see the sky, you see the sun, but you don’t feel the rain, and you don’t feel the radiant heat, and you don’t have to worry about protecting yourself. That will exist and there will be no worry about any weather conditions impacting the experience at all. Poles would hold up the translucent roof, and it captures solar that powers the entire precinct.
Over 1.3 million fans came through the gates of Melbourne Park over the past three weeks of the Australian Open, with record attendance on many days. The millions of fans led to long lines before matches as fans stood for long before gaining entrance into the stadium.
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