By Chris Oddo | Sunday, March 9, 2014

 

Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray expressed differing opinions on the best-of-three format of men's Grand Slam matches earlier this week in Indian Wells.

Photo Source: AP

Maria Sharapova tells BBC sport that a best-of-three format at Grand Slams would make the men’s game more appealing for fans as well as lengthening the careers of today’s stars, but Andy Murray isn’t having it.

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"It would be more exciting from the beginning of the match because you know that first set is extremely important," Sharapova told the BBC. "When you are watching a three-out-of-five-set match, the first set sometimes doesn't mean too much."

The debate has become a fashionable one in tennis circles, with equal prize money often at the heart of the argument. Some men feel that they deserve more prize money at the Grand Slams because they play longer matches, but the women have argued that they’d play best-of-five, too, if the ITF asked them to.

But with tennis becoming more a more physical sport each year, some feel it would be wise to shorten the men’s matches rather than lengthen the women’s. The notion is also appealing to television networks, who would have a much easier time of scheduling and promoting matches if they knew a men’s match would lonely last a certain amount of time.

"Men have expressed a lot of concern, especially to the matches that last five hours, in terms of recovery."

Andy Murray says it’s all in a days work.

"You spend more time in the gym putting your body through its paces to get ready for the Grand Slams, but they are the biggest events and should be the toughest test of a player physically and mentally," he told the BBC. "I like that it's best of five sets, because I don't think you get fluke results."

But some men are more open to the three-set format. Andy Roddick sees it both ways.

"I wouldn’t be against it," the now-retired American said last year. "I could easily argue both ways. From a fan perspective and a TV perspective, it would probably be easier to put together a product for TV when you know the time slots a little bit more.”

In 2012, Nikolay Davydenko expressed his views on the subject rather candidly, saying, “"Why are we playing five-set matches? We need to play best of three in Grand Slams. Everybody will support [that idea, even Roger] Federer. For Federer, it's easy to win in one hour, two sets. No need to run [for] a third set,'' Davydenko said.

If the variance and diversity of opinions on the subject is any indication, the debate will likely linger for a while. Modern tennis has always been rooted in its storied past, and such a vital change will take more than lip service to actually occur.