Maria Sharapova Hopes Men To Play Three Setters At Majors

Written by: on 7th March 2014
BNP Paribas Open
Maria Sharapova Hopes Men To Play Three Setters At Majors

epa04111705 Maria Sharapova of Russia responds to questions during the WTA Media All-Access Hour at the BNP Paribas Open tennis in Indian Wells, California, USA, 05 March 2014. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO  |

Many are the calls for women to play the best of five sets matches in Grand Slam events to justify equal prize money with their male counterparts. Now Maria Sharapova has insisted that a far better plan would be to play men’s matches at the four majors over a shorter distance of best of three sets.

 

Purists would most certainly argue, using matches like Rafael Nadal’s classic Wimbledon final win over Roger Federer in 2008 at the prime example with other five sets epics like the Djokovic/Nadal tussle in the Australian Open final two years ago or even Stanislas Wawrinka’s 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7 win over Djokovic in this year’s semi-final in Melbourne, as evidence.

 

Sharapova argued to the contrary and insisted it would not only make the men’s game more appealing, but could lengthen careers. “It would be more exciting from the beginning of the match because you know that first set is extremely important,” said the four-time Grand Slam winner.

 

“When you are watching a three-out-of-five-set match, the first set sometimes doesn’t mean too much.”

 

Sharapova continued: “Even a three sets match can last longer than three hours. Sometimes of course they are one-sided but there are a lot of matches that go the long haul. Five sets can be extremely tough on the body and men players have expressed a lot of concern in terms of recovery after a five hours match.”

 

However the contrary viewpoint predominates in the men’s game and Wimbledon champion Andy Murray disagrees vehemently with Sharapova’s suggestions.

 

“You spend more time in the gym putting your body through its paces to get ready for the Grand Slams, but they are the biggest events and should be the toughest test of a player physically and mentally,” said Murray.

 

“I like that it’s best of five sets. because I don’t think you get fluke results.”

Topics: , , , , , , , , , , , ,








10sBalls Top Stories

In Case You Missed It

EUGENIE BOUCHARD NAMED 2018 TENNIS CANADA FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR / EUGENIE BOUCHARD NOMMÉE JOUEUSE DE L’ANNÉE 2018 DE TENNIS CANADA thumbnail

EUGENIE BOUCHARD NAMED 2018 TENNIS CANADA FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR / EUGENIE BOUCHARD NOMMÉE JOUEUSE DE L’ANNÉE 2018 DE TENNIS CANADA

Tennis Canada announced on Wednesday that Eugenie Bouchard is the winner of the 2018 Excellence Awards in the Female Player of the Year and Singles Player of the Year categories.
TENNIS NEWS • CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS • TOMMY HAAS, TAYLOR FRITZ, STEVE JOHNSON, MARDY FISH AND MORE thumbnail

TENNIS NEWS • CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS • TOMMY HAAS, TAYLOR FRITZ, STEVE JOHNSON, MARDY FISH AND MORE

Time to get tickets to watch! Surly you have heard about The Largest Open Tennis Event in America!
TENNIS NEWS • RAFA NADAL CONFIRMS RETURN TO PRACTICE, EYES ABU DHABI EXHIBITION AND AUSTRALIAN SUMMER thumbnail

TENNIS NEWS • RAFA NADAL CONFIRMS RETURN TO PRACTICE, EYES ABU DHABI EXHIBITION AND AUSTRALIAN SUMMER

According to Uncle Toni, Rafael Nadal was supposed to be back at practice on either Dec. 4 or 5. Well, better late than never!
Conchita Martínez prepara la temporada 2019 de Karolina Pliskova en Tenerife thumbnail

Conchita Martínez prepara la temporada 2019 de Karolina Pliskova en Tenerife

Española y checa ya trabajaron juntas durante el pasado Open de Estados Unidos
ALEJANDRO’S FAVORITE PHOTOS FOR 10SBALLS FROM SOME OF THIS YEAR’S TOURNAMENTS thumbnail

ALEJANDRO’S FAVORITE PHOTOS FOR 10SBALLS FROM SOME OF THIS YEAR’S TOURNAMENTS

Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia hits a forehand to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia during her second round match at the Nature Valley International tennis tournament in Eastbourne, Great Britain, on Tuesday, June 26, 2018.