{"id":1760931,"date":"2026-02-12T17:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1760931"},"modified":"2026-02-12T17:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:00:25","slug":"elena-rybakina-asked-if-women-should-play-best-of-five-sets-as-australian-open-considers-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1760931","title":{"rendered":"Elena Rybakina asked if women should play best-of-five sets as Australian Open considers change"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"ps-article-content rounded-lg lg:mt-5 lg:border lg:border-card lg:bg-card lg:shadow-primary\">\n<header>\n<h1 class=\"py-4 text-xl font-normal text-title sm:text-2xl\">Elena Rybakina asked if women should play best-of-five sets as Australian Open considers change<\/h1>\n<div class=\"my-2 flex items-center justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/author\/oli-dickson-jefford\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Oli Dickson Jefford                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"12 Feb 2026 5:00 PM\" data-ps-date=\"12 Feb 2026 5:00 PM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1770915625\"><br \/>\n                            12 Feb 2026 5:00 PM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/elena-rybakina-asked-if-women-should-play-best-of-five-sets\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to facebook\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a 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         <\/button>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5 border-b border-page\"><\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5\">\n<figure class=\"aspect-h-9 aspect-w-16 relative\">\n                                        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1320\" height=\"742\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover object-center !my-0\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Elena-Rybakina-Tokyo-1320x742.jpg\" alt=\"Pictured: Elena Rybakina waves after a win.\">                <\/figure><figcaption class=\"flex items-center space-x-3 border-b border-mobile-caption px-3 lg:border-caption\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-1.5 break-words !text-xs !text-content\">\n                                Elena Rybakina waves after a win.                            <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\">\n<p>WTA Tour star Elena Rybakina has admitted she would prefer not to play best-of-five-set tennis matches amid talk of the format being adopted at some women\u2019s events.<\/p>\n<p>World No 3 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/elena-rybakina\">Rybakina<\/a> is one of the biggest names in the women\u2019s game, and recently claimed her second Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/australian-open\/elena-rybakina-explains-key-change-australian-open-final-win-over-sabalenka\">The Kazakh defeated world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a high-quality showdown inside the Rod Laver Arena<\/a>, adding to the Wimbledon title she previously won in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>The Australian Open has remained at the forefront of tennis innovation in recent years, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/australian-open\/australian-open-tennis-boss-wants-women-to-play-best-of-five-sets-and-it-could-happen-soon\">and tournament director Craig Tiley has suggested that the event may look to introduce best-of-five-set matches in the latter stages of the women\u2019s singles draw<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the things I\u2019ve been saying now is that I think there should be three out of five sets for women,\u201d said Tiley, in quotes reported by <em>AAP<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe should look at the last few matches \u2014 the quarters and the semis and the finals \u2014 and make the women\u2019s side three out of five.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo it\u2019s something we should put on the agenda and start talking to the players about it, because there\u2019s some matches in those last rounds which would have been fascinating had they been three out of five sets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Grand Slam men\u2019s singles events are now the only tournaments with five-set matches, with both men and women playing best-of-three matches at every other level of tournament.<\/p>\n<h2>Tennis News<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/emma-raducanu-former-coach-mark-petchey-one-choice\">Emma Raducanu\u2019s former coach says she has \u2018one choice\u2019 after Francisco Roig split<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/alex-eala-handed-unexpected-boost-star-set-debut-appearance-wta-1000-event\">Alex Eala handed unexpected boost as star set for debut appearance at WTA 1000 event<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The championship match at the WTA Finals was a best-of-five set contest between 1984 and 1998, with Martina Hingis\u2019 win over Lindsay Davenport in 1998 the last time two women contested an official best-of-five encounter.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/iga-swiatek-coco-gauff-amanda-anisimova-speak-best-of-five-sets\">WTA Tour stars Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, and Amanda Anisimova were asked for their thoughts on the subject ahead of their campaigns at the Qatar Open<\/a>, with the trio delivering a rather mixed verdict on the subject.<\/p>\n<p>Rybakina was asked about the idea following her third-round match in Doha, in which she battled from a set down to beat Zheng Qinwen 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 and reach the last eight.<\/p>\n<p>In a similar vein to Swiatek, Gauff, and Anisimova, the 26-year-old admitted some pessimism about the idea.<\/p>\n<p>She said: \u201cI would like to stick to three sets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFive, it\u2019s quite a lot. I\u2019m not sure that the quality of the matches would be as good. But I don\u2019t know how much players will have a voice on who is going to decide, but it\u2019s quite difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No official plans have been put in place by the Australian Open as to whether best-of-five-set matches will be introduced at the tournament in the near future.<\/p>\n<p>However, discussions regarding a potential format change and new innovations in the sport will likely continue, especially considering there are still three more Grand Slam tournaments to be held in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The French Open will start in May, before Wimbledon in late June, and the US Open in August.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Want more from Tennis365? Add us as <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\">a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Read Next<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-features\/emma-raducanu-injury-struggles-physical-prime-leading-expert-interview\">Emma Raducanu \u2018still a distance from her physical prime\u2019 \u2013 leading injury expert amid Brit\u2019s struggles<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elena Rybakina asked if women should play best-of-five sets as Australian Open considers change Oli Dickson Jefford 12 Feb 2026 5:00 PM Elena Rybakina waves after a win. WTA Tour star Elena Rybakina has admitted she would prefer not to play best-of-five-set tennis matches amid talk of the format being adopted at some women\u2019s events. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,249],"class_list":["post-1760931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-tennis365-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1760931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1760931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1760931\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1760931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1760931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1760931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}