Nick Kyrgios, a former Wimbledon runner-up who will rejoin the tour at the beginning of the new season after missing almost two years because of injuries, has advocated for Grand Slam matches to be played in best-of-three sets up until the quarterfinals.
In the first week of 2025, the 29-year-old, who is scheduled to play at the Brisbane International, made his remarks on “The Sit-Down podcast.”
He expressed his thoughts about it and said: “I think best-of-three (sets) up until the quarterfinals, and from then on it’s best-of-five. That’s what I would immediately change at a Grand Slam. If you made it best of three sets up until the quarterfinals, you’d see some guys break through to the quarterfinals, but then obviously the better players would end up winning best of five. And the first week would be more exciting. How many times have we seen one of the best players in the draw lose the first set, and you’re just like, He’s going to come back and win it anyway?”
Kyrgios went on to say that the tournament organizers would benefit from the change in schedule for the first week of play.
He added: “When Li Tu won a set against Alcaraz early on (at the US Open). Now it’s one set all, and then it’s one set (to go)—that could change Li’s entire career. He beats Alcaraz on the Centre Court at the US Open—you become a name. I think that would be a cool thing to change. I think it would save us a lot of effort on schedule; in the first week schedule gets out of control. With the men’s side playing best-of-five and sometimes the women’s matches go long best-of-three, I mean, men’s matches aren’t finishing until like 2 or 3 am, and it’s just not sustainable, I don’t think.”
Nick Kyrgios in 2024
Ranked world no.470, Nick played his last match on the 13th of June 2023 when he lost to world no.405 Yibing Wu 7-5 6-3 in the 1st round in Stuttgart (draw).
This year Nick owns a 0-1 match record.
Nick Kyrgios |
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