Gabriela Sabatini has shared her thoughts on Aryna Sabalenka’s recent comments regarding the idea of women playing best-of-five set matches.
Sabalenka had previously dismissed ideas of women playing the longer format, claiming that she was ‘not ready’ to do so.
The issue resurfaced earlier this year after former Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley suggested implementing five-set matches from the quarterfinal stage onward.
Since then, Sabalenka has said her views have shifted and that she’d be open to the change. Now, former US Open champion Gabriela Sabatini has responded with her own perspective.
This topic has been discussed in tennis for a long time, but many players feel more confident talking about it now than ever before. That includes Gabriela Sabatini.
Between 1984 and 1998, the final of the WTA Finals was played over five sets, so Sabatini has experience with that format.
Speaking to Gonzalo Ferreyra, she reflected on her own experiences and questioned whether it would be realistic for players to handle five sets throughout an entire tournament.
“Yes, I think this is their decision, isn’t it? They should give their opinion on whether they like the idea or not,” said Sabatini.
“I can tell you that I played, I played twice in the Masters final that was played to five sets. I had to play a five-set match against Monica Seles.
“We played for almost four hours, I think, and it was a spectacular experience because it’s obviously different from what you usually play, but hey, it was just the final, right? That game, I don’t know if it can be done for the whole tournament. That’s perhaps something that the girls have to decide, isn’t it?”
Sabatini reached the WTA Finals four times while the event was still using a best-of-five format, giving her a fair amount of experience in that setup.
The former world number three had some success, beating Pam Shriver and Lindsay Davenport in straight sets. But she found it tougher against Steffi Graf and Monica Seles, losing to them in four and five sets, respectively.
The final women’s match played over five sets came at the 1998 WTA Finals, where Martina Hingis defeated Lindsay Davenport.
Despite ongoing discussion about bringing the format back, there hasn’t been any real movement toward making it a regular part of women’s tennis again.
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