A few weeks ago I posed the question “Are Tennis Matches Too Long?” I wrote in-depth about proposed rule and scoring changes being discussed by ATP and WTA leaders to speed up play and shorten the length of matches.
After Sunday’s Gerry Weber Open final in Halle, Germany, where Roger Federer defeated Alexander Zverev in only 53 minutes, I find myself pondering the exact opposite.
This was the biggest day of the year on the German tennis calendar, at a stadium that holds over 12,000 people. It was a chance to see Germany’s best young prospect of the past few decades against possibly the greatest player of all-time. Surely many fans traveled a great distance and paid a considerable amount of money to watch this match live, just as millions were excited to watch the match at home. As fun as it was to observe Federer’s brilliant play on Sunday, most fans must have been left wanting a lot more than what they got: less than an hour of action.
Yes, fans were also able to see the Doubles final that included the German team of the Zverev brothers. And yes, doubles matches deserve a lot more attention and promotion than they currently receive. But if we’re being honest, the doubles final was far from the main attraction, and was not watched by most fans.
This is the issue with the best-of-three set format: unlike best-of-five matches which many feel are too long when they go four-to-five hours, finals such as this leave the consumer unsatisfied. The varying length of a match is a problem almost unique to the sport of tennis. When you plan to watch most other major sports, you have a good general idea of how long it will last and the amount of entertainment you will be provided. Other sports also don’t have varying lengths depending on the event, with the men playing best-of-three everywhere except the majors. All of this can serve to frustrate and drive away the average fan.
The men’s current five-set format at majors can drain both fans and players alike. And if we’re still being honest, even the greatest of five-set matches have some lulls. But finals at prominent tournaments that last less than an hour are also an issue. It’s time to adapt some sensible rule and scoring changes that limit the variance in match lengths without losing what makes the sport great.
