Jelenafan
Multiple Major Winner
The women had their WTA YE finals for about 15 years go best of five. I think they were done by 2000. It existed in a sort of vacuum because no other tourney implemented it for the women. Some good matches there , as mentioned I particularly remember the Seles/Sabatini match that went five.
Other than that, in my lifetime there was the Battle of the Sexes, BJK versus Bobby Riggs that was best of five in 1973.
I don’t seem to recall negative feedback to the womens longer format, just that it didn’t lead to anything else so I could see why it was discontinued.
I think the bigger issue is that the trend seems to be against best of five other than the Majors for men. TV scheduling doesn’t love potentially 4+ hour events for most tennis. Isn’t even the revised Davis Cup matches best of three in the group tournament? Which makes me sad because there was some mammoth Davis Cup Ties where the guys just let it all out there for country, Wilander, McEnroe, Becker, etc had epic battles. One time Sampras practically had to be carried off the court.
The men stopped doing best of five in Masters finals years ago. Like the women , their YE champs finals also used to be best of five ( still recall Nalbandian’s 2 set to love comeback to best Federer in 2005 finals) but that got dropped over 10 years ago. Again, there were memorable matches but that format has fallen out of favor even with the ATP.
So yes, I don’t see anyone wanting to add any more best of five, which means it’s difficult for the women to get that format without adjustments to the Majors.
What annoys me is that others, even now, including some of the male players, still trot out that BS that the women play less sets then the men so don’t deserve equal prize money. Well everyone knows the Majors do not want to expand to more best of five matches because of the logistics nightmare so it’s all empty sexist posturing.
Other than that, in my lifetime there was the Battle of the Sexes, BJK versus Bobby Riggs that was best of five in 1973.
I don’t seem to recall negative feedback to the womens longer format, just that it didn’t lead to anything else so I could see why it was discontinued.
I think the bigger issue is that the trend seems to be against best of five other than the Majors for men. TV scheduling doesn’t love potentially 4+ hour events for most tennis. Isn’t even the revised Davis Cup matches best of three in the group tournament? Which makes me sad because there was some mammoth Davis Cup Ties where the guys just let it all out there for country, Wilander, McEnroe, Becker, etc had epic battles. One time Sampras practically had to be carried off the court.
The men stopped doing best of five in Masters finals years ago. Like the women , their YE champs finals also used to be best of five ( still recall Nalbandian’s 2 set to love comeback to best Federer in 2005 finals) but that got dropped over 10 years ago. Again, there were memorable matches but that format has fallen out of favor even with the ATP.
So yes, I don’t see anyone wanting to add any more best of five, which means it’s difficult for the women to get that format without adjustments to the Majors.
What annoys me is that others, even now, including some of the male players, still trot out that BS that the women play less sets then the men so don’t deserve equal prize money. Well everyone knows the Majors do not want to expand to more best of five matches because of the logistics nightmare so it’s all empty sexist posturing.