After Novak Djokovic’s struggles in his semifinals encounter against Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon, Serena Williams’ ex-coach Rick Macci has a suggestion for changes to the Grand Slam format. Weighing in on the discussion of the length of matches at Majors, the American opined that men should play in a best-of-three format like women.
The length of matches at Grand Slam events has long since been a matter of debate in the tennis world. Over the past few years, the men’s singles games that last five sets have drawn particular interest, with fans expressing concern for the physical toll it takes on players.
At the recently concluded Wimbledon Championships, Djokovic visibly struggled in his semifinals match, and later admitted that the long duration of games made it harder for him to play at his best in the latter half of Majors. In light of this, Rick Macci wrote on X:
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“Many chirping that the Women should play 3 out of 5 at the Slams. Can they? Yes. Should they? No. The reason is matches will be won /lost over the tournament because of injury. What should happen is the men should play two out of three because many matches lost because of a brutal 5 hour test and the body cannot recover even with a 2 day rest. @DjokerNole @atptour.”
Macci, a USPTA Hall of Famer, has coached multiple successful tennis stars. The 70-year-old oversaw Serena Williams and Venus Williams' rise to the top, and has also worked with the likes of Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova.
Novak Djokovic opens up about physical struggles after Wimbledon loss to Jannik Sinner
Novak Djokovic's campaign in Wimbledon got off to a demanding start, as he was pushed to four sets in his opening round against Alexandre Muller. While he won his next two matches in straight sets, he needed four games to clinch wins in both his Round of 16 and quarterfinals encounters.
After his long week, Djokovic was visibly struggling in his semifinals against Jannik Sinner, as he was dealt a 3-6, 3-6, 4-6 defeat. After the match, the 38-year-old admitted that the physical toll of five-set matches was proving to be difficult to manage.
"Playing best of five, particularly this year, has been a real struggle for me physically," Djokovic said. "The longer the tournament goes, the worse the condition gets. I reached the semis of every slam this year. I have to play Sinner or [Carlos] Alcaraz. These guys are fit, young, sharp. And I feel like I’m going into the match with the tank half empty. It’s just not possible to win the match like that.”
After his semifinals exit at Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic has now chosen to withdraw from the National Bank Open, which would have marked the beginning of the Serb's hard court season.
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