{"id":1825032,"date":"2026-03-13T19:00:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1825032"},"modified":"2026-03-13T19:00:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:00:31","slug":"tim-henman-gives-his-verdict-on-female-players-competing-in-five-set-matches-at-grand-slams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1825032","title":{"rendered":"Tim Henman gives his verdict on female players competing in five-set matches at Grand Slams"},"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\">Tim Henman gives his verdict on female players competing in five-set matches at Grand Slams<\/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\/kevin-palmer\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Kevin Palmer                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"13 Mar 2026 7:00 PM\" data-ps-date=\"13 Mar 2026 7:00 PM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1773428431\"><br \/>\n                            13 Mar 2026 7:00 PM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 hidden dark:block h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/common\/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n  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    <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 hidden dark:block h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/common\/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 dark:hidden h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/common\/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <button id=\"t365-article-share-btn-hidden\" class=\"mr-2 hidden h-6 w-6 appearance-none border-none !text-share-icon outline-none hover:!text-share-icon-active sm:hidden\" data-title=\"Tim Henman gives his verdict on female players competing in five-set matches at Grand Slams\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/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=\"1024\" height=\"600\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover object-center !my-0\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/27150837\/Tim-Henman.jpg\" alt=\"Tim Henman\">                <\/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                                Tim Henman holds a Sky Sports mic                             <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\">\n<p>A big talking in point in tennis over recent weeks has been the proposal that women players play best-of-five-set matches at the Grand Slam tournaments.<\/p>\n<p>This idea has been floated time and again down the years, with supporters of the plan suggesting it would be the perfect way to banish the notion that women players do not deserve equal prize money as they play fewer sets than their male counterparts.<\/p>\n<p>The arguments against this proposal focus around the health of female athletes and whether they would be able to play five-set matches back-to-back in Grand Slam events, with a compromise plan possibly seeing the extended format introduced for the latter stages of the major tournament.<\/p>\n<p>Craig Tiley, the former CEO at Tennis Australia who recently moved to a similar role with the United States Tennis Association, is a big supporter of the players to play five-set matches in the women\u2019s singles at Grand Slams and he believes it could happen soon.<\/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 Tiley told AAP.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe should look at the last few matches \u2013 the quarters and the semis and the finals \u2013 and make the women\u2019s side three out of five.<\/p>\n<h2>Tennis News<\/h2>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/australian-open\/tennis-equal-pay-patrick-mouratoglou-serena-williams\">Patrick Mouratoglou calls for big change in women\u2019s tennis to \u2018end equal pay debate\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo it\u2019s something we should put on the agenda and start talking to the players about it because there are some matches in those last rounds which would have been fascinating had they been three out of five sets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow I don\u2019t know whether the players would want to do it or not, but it is something we need to consider on the women\u2019s side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This discussion will always divide opinion and in the view of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/tim-henman\">former British No 1 Tim Henman<\/a>, the move to make the women\u2019s matches longer is not needed.<\/p>\n<p>Henman, who has a prominent role on the organising committee at Wimbledon, spoke exclusively to Tennis365 at a Sky Sports event in London and made his position clear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wouldn\u2019t think we need to do this, from a history and tradition standpoint,\u201d Henman told Tennis365.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Grand Slams are working just fine. \u2029There are a lot of other change I\u2019d make within this court before I start filling with the Grand Slams.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Henman then outlined where he would make changes in the modern game, as he hinted the extended ATP 1000 and WTA 1000 tournaments are an issue that need to be looked at.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe schedule needs to be looked at,\u201d he added. \u201cYou make the schedule more relevant. I\u2019ve said this many times before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook at the month of February. The is so much tennis going on all over the world and players are playing in Doha, Dubai, Rotterdam, Acapulco, Buenos Aires. and what does it all mean to the fans?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand why the Masters 1000s have gone towards 12 days, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s conducive to a good calendar for the players. So I\u2019d definitely change the calendar and make sure all the tennis we see is relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sky Sports is the year-round home of tennis. Watch the biggest stars on the ATP and WTA Tours at the Indian Wells Open and Miami Open live this March, exclusively on Sky Sports and NOW.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ NEXT: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/novak-djokovic-amazing-tim-henman-jannik-sinner\">Tim Henman admits he was \u2018finding it hard to believe what he was seeing\u2019 with Novak Djokovic<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tim Henman gives his verdict on female players competing in five-set matches at Grand Slams Kevin Palmer 13 Mar 2026 7:00 PM Tim Henman holds a Sky Sports mic A big talking in point in tennis over recent weeks has been the proposal that women players play best-of-five-set matches at the Grand Slam tournaments. This [&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-1825032","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\/1825032","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=1825032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1825032\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1825032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1825032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1825032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}