Gauff joked that playing best-of-five sets means finishing work at 5:30 a.m., while Paolini said men and women are inherently different.

After this year’s Australian Open concluded, tournament director Craig Tiley mentioned in an interview that starting from 2027, the women’s singles at the Australian Open might adopt the same best-of-five sets format as the men’s beginning from the quarterfinals. This proposal sparked widespread debate, and recently, two top female players competing in Doha, Gauff and Paolini, also joined the discussion.

Faced with this potential historic change in tennis, Gauff responded with a mix of practicality and humor.

“Can I play best-of-five matches? Yes, maybe. Do I want to? That would take a lot of time on court,” Gauff admitted frankly. However, she also questioned the idea from a spectator’s perspective: “But from the audience’s point of view, if both men and women play best-of-five, that’s just too much. Men’s matches are already very long; if women had to do the same, I can’t even imagine.”

Gauff further emphasized the importance of consistency in the format: “If you choose best-of-five, the entire tournament should be like that. It shouldn’t start only from the quarterfinals.” She explained that the current best-of-three format allows her to “get home on time,” whereas best-of-five would mean “playing until 5 a.m. every day.”

Meanwhile, Italian player Paolini approached the topic from the perspective of physiological differences between men and women: “Right now, I don’t think it’s a good idea. Honestly, for women, I don’t believe it’s suitable. Our bodies are built differently, and if best-of-five is already tough for men at the Australian Open, it would be even tougher for us. This isn’t a lie; we really are different.”

Looking back at tennis history, many female pioneers have held varied opinions on this matter. At Wimbledon 2013, British star Andy Murray suggested in a post-match interview that “women should play best-of-five” or “men should switch to best-of-three,” to which then world No. 1 Serena Williams responded clearly: “We are willing, ready, and capable of playing best-of-five.” She also revealed, “We have actually proposed playing best-of-five many times, but they don’t want women to play best-of-five.”

In fact, throughout tennis history, some opinions have maintained that if women’s matches are shorter, they should not receive equal prize money as men. For example, former pro Nikolay Davydenko bluntly stated: “Male tennis players do three times the work in Grand Slam matches compared to females, so paying them the same prize money is unfair.”

Tennis fans have also reacted strongly to this topic. One typical comment from a netizen was: “If women want equal pay, they must play best-of-five matches.” Similar views are widespread online, with many believing that demanding equal pay without equal work is fundamentally unfair.

However, there are opposing opinions as well. Some users said: “I don’t think this should happen. Both men and women should play best-of-three until the final, then maybe switch to best-of-five.”

Whether the tournament director’s idea will be implemented will be decided at the 2027 Australian Open. But there is no doubt that as more female players raise questions and even objections, this proposal should be reconsidered.(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Lu Xiaotian)