The Always Debatable Fifth Set Tiebreak

Written by: Staff on 2nd June 2013

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

The Always Debatable Fifth Set Tiebreak

epa03726867 Tommy Haas of Germany in action during his third round match against John Isner of USA at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 01 June 2013. EPA/IAN LANGSDON |

It’s an issue that comes up at every single slam. Should the four major have a tiebreak in the fifth set or not? It becomes even more prominent when a match like the Isner/Haas one at the French open today occurs. For the second time in as many days, John Isner found himself two sets down and fighting off 12 match points only to lose in a fifth set because his exhaustion became too much. How he survived that 11 hour, 3 day match at Wimbledon in 2010 is still beyond me. But he isn’t the only one who has struggled with both the immediate and eventual side effects of a match that never seems to end.

Currently, the US Open is the only major that invokes a tiebreak in the fifth set. All other slams (Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon) require that players play until a break of serve gives one of the players a two game lead. And with a field that includes some of the fiercest competitors, the occurrence of five set matches in earlier rounds has become much more prominent.

I really don’t understand how this issue hasn’t been brought to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) before. All it would take is some of the top players making their frustration known and the endless fifth set would be no more. It seems like such a simple solution, and one that needs to be implemented soon. Some of the world’s top players are finding themselves exerting far too much energy in the earlier rounds of a slam because matches are lasting four or five hours. This is problematic for both the players and the tournaments. Not having a fifth set tiebreak does a disservice to all involved – players, fans, media, and the tournament itself. Players become exhausted. Fans begin losing interest if a match lasts too long. The media find themselves far too close and even missing deadlines because the match’s conclusion didn’t come in time. And the tournament falls behind schedule if too many matches last longer than they should.

There can’t be a single player on tour who would argue with the implementation of a fifth set tiebreak. So why hasn’t anything been done? The issue needs to be fixed – and quickly.