Iga Swiatek Gets Real on the Possibility of Women Playing Five Sets on the Professional Circuit

Iga Swiatek to open her account at the Indian Wells Open against American star Kayla Day.

Iga Swiatek Gets Real on the Possibility of Women Playing Five Sets on the Professional Circuit

Iga Swiatek (Image via X/United Cup)

In Short
  • Iga Swiatek expressed concerns about the feasibility of women playing best-of-five set matches in Grand Slam tournaments.
  • Former Tennis Australia Chief Executive Craig Tiley proposed introducing five-set matches from the quarter-finals of the Australian Open next season.
  • Swiatek aims to improve her performance at the Indian Wells Open after a disappointing start to the season.

Iga Swiatek has voiced her concerns about the challenges women players would face if asked to play best-of-five set matches at Grand Slam tournaments. The debate on the proposed five sets has received mixed reactions from players and former players about the potential risk.

Former Tennis Australia Chief Executive Craig Tiley floated the idea of five-set matches during the Australian Open. He revealed that the change will be introduced from the quarter-final stages of the tournament next season. However, the proposal came after a scintillating high-level performance in the men’s singles semi-finals.

Carlos Alcaraz took on Alexander Zverev at the Rod Laver Arena in five sets, which lasted for more than five hours and 20 minutes. Then, Novak Djokovic played against Jannik Sinner in the other semi-final clash, with the match taking more than four hours before the former won in five sets to reach the final.

Meanwhile, the women’s singles semi-final matches didn’t last more than four hours combined. The women’s final only took two hours and 16 minutes, while Alcaraz and Djokovic’s clash in the men’s singles lasted more than three hours. Tiley believes that fans are hungry for more spectacular displays on the court, and the best way to give it to them is by making changes to how many sets can be played.

Women are accustomed to playing best-of-three sets and have argued that changing to a best-of-five format would not benefit them or the sport. During Swiatek’s press conference in Indian Wells, she admitted that the quality of tennis would drop should women be asked to play five sets in Grand Slam tournaments:

So I don’t know if the audience honestly would like that. Also, like, I don’t know if we would be able to keep the quality for five sets. Well, that’s a fact, like, men are more physically strong and they can handle it for sure better. Also, we have never practiced in a way to prepare for that, so we would need to change, I think, our whole calendar because the Grand Slams would be so tough that I don’t think we would have honestly time to prepare for any other tournaments.

Earlier this week, Aryna Sabalenka noted that the proposed change will see her win more Grand Slams on tour. In fact, she’s convinced that if it had been implemented years ago should would have had more than four Grand Slams. The World No.1 has reached the finals of four of the last major tournaments on tour, but has won just one of them.

Iga Swiatek aims to improve in her game at the Indian Wells Open

Iga Swiatek is yet to win a title this season after playing in two tournaments. The 24-year-old failed to get to the semi-finals of the Australian Open and Qatar Open. However, she has a good record at Indian Wells, having won the title in 2022 and 2024 and reached the final in 2025, before losing to Mirra Andreeva.

Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek (Image via X/Iga archive)

The Polish star’s last title on tour came at the Korean Open in September last year. During the aforementioned press conference, she revealed that she will aim to improve in her game at the Indian Wells Open. The former World No.1 added that so many factors have influenced her poor performance this year:

The results haven’t been what I would wish for, because most of the tournaments I lost somewhere around quarterfinals, so it would be great to improve that,. But obviously it’s tennis, so there are many factors coming in and influencing that. It hasn’t been perfect, so I’m not putting too much pressure on myself, and I feel like I can really lower the expectations and just focus on the work and see how it’s going to go.

Swiatek will take on American star Kayla Day in the first round of the Indian Wells Open. The World No.2 faces a daunting task at the event as she’s projected to face Maria Sakkari, who defeated her in Qatar, in the third round before a potential clash against Doha Open champion Karolina Muchova in the fourth round.

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