WTA founder Billie Jean King believes men and women should be required to play the same amount of sets at grand slam tournaments.
King, who won 12 major titles in singles during her career, told reporters on Thursday that the focus of the sport should be on the quality of matches and not the quantity. Under current rules, women play best-of-three-set matches and men play best-of-five in majors. A contrast to the ATP and WTA Tour, where both play three-set matches.
“Personally, I don’t want the men playing five sets anymore. I think it takes too much out of them,” King said at a WTA Finals event. “Like one time the players played in the Australian Open final. It took six hours. They could hardly walk off the court. I guarantee you that it took a year off their careers.”
The six-hour final King refers to is the 2012 clash between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. After five hours and 53 minutes of play, Djokovic prevailed 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-5. In grand slam history, the longest match ever played was between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. Lasting 11 hours and five minutes over three days.
King has also insisted that women are willing to play five-set matches if they have to. Although she points out that playing longer will not result in players earning more money for their efforts.
“Everyone keeps saying we don’t want to. We’re very willing. All the women are willing to play three or five sets,” she states. “It doesn’t matter if (the artists) play for one hour or six hours. They get paid the same amount.”
King’s comments coincide with International women’s day. The 74-year-old is a long-time campaigner of women’s right and equal prize money. In 1973 she defeated Bobby Riggs in a ‘battle of the sexes’ match that attracted a TV audience of roughly 90 million people. Many have credited that triumph as a turning point in the promotion of women’s tennis.
There are currently no plans in motion to reduce the length of matches at any of the four grand slam tournaments.
