Rafael Nadal believes major marathons are a beautiful part of the sport and must be maintained.

Speaking to the Spanish media on a conference call, Nadal said while he understands tennis experimenting with format change to generate more fan interest, he strongly opposes changing the best-of-five Grand Slam format to best-of-three sets.

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"There may be debate, but I don't think that is the subject, but how tennis could be made more interesting at any given time," Nadal said in comments published by El Pais. "I think that Sunday was an attractive game for the spectator, even if it was long. We were playing a Grand Slam. That this is studied in other types of tournaments, I understand it and I am open to change things; Format changes and different objectives. But I think that in the Grand Slams it is important that tradition be maintained."

Pointing to the fact his four hour, 49-minute triump over Daniil Medvedev in the US Open final and Novak Djokovic denying two championship points to beat Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final were two of the most viewed matches of the year, Nadal said tennis must maintain the "beautiful part of our sport" with epic major matches.

"Long matches are especially remembered and exciting; those of an hour and a half or two hours are not," Nadal said. "When talking about the best games of the year, they are always long and tight, with a certain dose of drama both at the level of tennis and physical emotion. It is a beautiful part of our sport and it would be a shame if it was lost.”

Photo credit: US Open Facebook