To Be or Not To Be: The 5th Set Tiebreak

Written by: Staff on 30th June 2013

To Be or Not To Be: The 5th Set Tiebreak

epa03758052 John Isner of the US returns to Evgeny Donskoy of Russia during their first round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 24 June 2013. EPA/TOM HEVEZI |

By: Kristen Tracy

John Isner may be out of play at this year’s championships at Wimbledon, but his name is still a big presence on the grounds – more specifically on and around Court 18. You know exactly what I’m talking about. How he survived that record-breaking 11 hour, 3 day match at Wimbledon in 2010 is still beyond me. And since then, Isner has become synonymous with lengthy matches. 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. Many players on the ATP have known the agony that comes with striking the ball for hours upon hours.

Best-of-five-set matches (more specifically the fifth set part) have quickly become the bane of my existence. Don’t get me wrong. I love a thrilling and exhilarating match as much as the next person, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. And those kinds of matches tend to do more harm than good.

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 to and even missing deadlines because the match’s conclusion doesn’t come in time. And the tournament falls behind schedule if too many matches last longer than they should. Too many matches like the Isner/Mahut one in 2010 and the top players are going to find themselves with more and more injuries because their bodies aren’t given ample time to rest and recover.

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.

Topics: American tennis news, British tennis news, John Isner, Wimbledon