World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka supports USTA CEO Craig Tiley's call for women to play best-of-five sets from the quarterfinals in Grand Slams, citing her physical strength, while opponents including Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula raise concerns about scheduling, fatigue and match quality; Laura Robson backs it only for semis and finals.
The debate on extending women's Grand Slam matches to best-of-five sets from the quarterfinals gained traction after Craig Tiley, former Australian Open director and new USTA CEO, proposed the change to intensify late-stage competition. Tiley referenced fan research favoring longer matches and floated the idea ahead of the Indian Wells Open. Women currently play best-of-three sets at majors, unlike men.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Aryna Sabalenka enthusiastically endorsed it: "Oh, let's do that. Yeah, let's do that. I feel like I would have probably more Grand Slams. I feel like physically I'm really strong, and I'm pretty confident that my body can handle that." She added it would give her an edge: "It's a lot of fitness work to be done for others... I have huge advantage."
Coco Gauff, a three-time major winner, acknowledged her fitness but opposed partial adoption: "It probably would favour me, because I'm physically up there with the best, but I probably wouldn't want to see that happen... if it were to happen, I would prefer it to be the whole tournament, not just the quarters," citing schedule disruptions and fan experience.
Iga Swiatek, world No. 2 and six-time major winner, called it mismatched for a fast-paced era: "It's a weird approach... I don't know if the audience honestly would like that," warning of potential fatigue and quality drops in longer matches.
Elena Rybakina, reigning Australian Open champion, highlighted mental and physical tolls: "Mentally, to be ready to play so many sets... it’s not easy. I wouldn’t want to play three out of five, to be honest."
Jessica Pegula, world No. 5 and WTA council chair, questioned the need despite women's capabilities: "I'm honestly just not a massive fan of the three out of five, even with the men." Drawing from ATP insights, she noted energy management issues like players "throw[ing] sets to get reset," plus calendar strain and fan fatigue from excessive lengths.
Laura Robson, retired player and WTA events contributor, advocated limiting best-of-five to semifinals and finals, referencing Amanda Anisimova's quick Wimbledon final loss to Swiatek as evidence for more settling time in high-stakes matches.
The proposal remains under discussion with no implementation.
