Tennis: Best-of-five sets at Grand Slams "not good" for tennis - Andy Murray
Wed Aug 15, 2018 03:14:pm Sports
6.5K By Obiaks Blog
Andy Murray has said his opinion of best-of-five set matches at Grand Slams changed after missing a dinner due to a lengthy match at Wimbledon, adding the format is "not good" for tennis.
Murray, who is a fan of best-of-five as a player, experienced a different perspective when he made his commentary debut during July's Wimbledon quarterfinal between Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro.
The epic contest, which Nadal won 7-5, 6-7(7), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, lasted four hours and 48 minutes and finished at 8:51 p.m. local time, forcing Murray to change his plans for the evening.
Murray was sidelined from the Championships due to injury, but has enjoyed some of his greatest on-court moments in five-set matches. The 31-year-old has won 23 best-of-five ties at Grand Slams and enjoys a better fifth-set record than both Nadal and Roger Federer.
"As a player, I really like best-of-five," Murray told the New York Times. "It's been good to me. I feel like it rewards the training and everything you put into that.
"But then, when I sat and watched the match -- that Nadal-del Potro match in the commentary booth -- it was an amazing match, it was a brilliant match, but it was really, really long to sit there as a spectator for the first time.
"That evening I had a meeting planned, and I missed my dinner. People that are sitting there during the week watching that all, I don't think you can plan to do that. A lot of people are going to be getting up and leaving the matches and not actually watching the whole thing. The people while in the stadium loved it, but I don't think it -- as well, what happened in the semifinals -- is good for tennis."
Nadal's win over del Potro wasn't even the longest match of the week. Calls for the introduction of a fifth-set tie-break increased following the six hour, 36 minute semifinal between John Isner and Kevin Anderson, the longest men's Grand Slam semifinal of all time. Anderson eventually won the fifth set 26-24 but afterwards John McEnroe said "if we want people to keep watching our sport, we don't need to do this."
12-time Grand Slam winner Billie Jean King is also an advocate for men playing best-of-three set matches at Grand Slams, saying it takes "too much out of them".
ESPN
Murray, who is a fan of best-of-five as a player, experienced a different perspective when he made his commentary debut during July's Wimbledon quarterfinal between Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro.
The epic contest, which Nadal won 7-5, 6-7(7), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, lasted four hours and 48 minutes and finished at 8:51 p.m. local time, forcing Murray to change his plans for the evening.
Murray was sidelined from the Championships due to injury, but has enjoyed some of his greatest on-court moments in five-set matches. The 31-year-old has won 23 best-of-five ties at Grand Slams and enjoys a better fifth-set record than both Nadal and Roger Federer.
"As a player, I really like best-of-five," Murray told the New York Times. "It's been good to me. I feel like it rewards the training and everything you put into that.
"But then, when I sat and watched the match -- that Nadal-del Potro match in the commentary booth -- it was an amazing match, it was a brilliant match, but it was really, really long to sit there as a spectator for the first time.
"That evening I had a meeting planned, and I missed my dinner. People that are sitting there during the week watching that all, I don't think you can plan to do that. A lot of people are going to be getting up and leaving the matches and not actually watching the whole thing. The people while in the stadium loved it, but I don't think it -- as well, what happened in the semifinals -- is good for tennis."
Nadal's win over del Potro wasn't even the longest match of the week. Calls for the introduction of a fifth-set tie-break increased following the six hour, 36 minute semifinal between John Isner and Kevin Anderson, the longest men's Grand Slam semifinal of all time. Anderson eventually won the fifth set 26-24 but afterwards John McEnroe said "if we want people to keep watching our sport, we don't need to do this."
12-time Grand Slam winner Billie Jean King is also an advocate for men playing best-of-three set matches at Grand Slams, saying it takes "too much out of them".
ESPN
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