Alcaraz & Medvedev Disagree on Length of Grand Slam Matches

Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev disagree on the length of Grand Slam tennis matches.

Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev were asked about Grand Slam rules. / Andy Abeyta/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY

Grand Slam tournaments are grueling, especially for men's singles players. Five sets can go on for a handful of hours and leave players depleted as they progress through the bracket.

Fans often debate if men's rules should be the same as women's (best two out of three). Now, two of the top-ranked players in the world are weighing in on the debate.

Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev made different arguments for the length of Grand Slam tennis matches.

When asked for his opinion on the subject, Carlos Alcaraz said, "Five sets. I think it's more difficult to defeat the big players in five sets. I see myself as a really good player in the fifth set. If I have to choose, I'd prefer playing five sets rather than three. Because I feel like I have more time to come back. If I'm two sets down or two sets to one down, I feel like I have more time to come back."

Carlos Alcaraz was asked if he’d prefer Grand Slams be played as 5 set matches or best 2 out of 3

“Forever, it’s been 5 sets for men at the majors. What do you think of the fact that it’s 5 sets instead of 3? What would be your preference?”

Carlos: “5 sets. I think it’s more… pic.twitter.com/YIwPbhskZ9

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) July 1, 2024

Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev gave a different side of the argument. "I always said I completely understand it, and I think it's very spectacular and good. If you ask me, I would prefer three sets. That's just my personal opinion. I don't even have like a valid explanation for this. Just how I want it. But what's true is it makes it much more intense mentally, physically. Like Australian Open I did this year was pretty special memories because of the five set matches I won."

Medvedev continued, "Five sets is much tougher for the body. So you can get more injuries. From what I hear from many people, on tv, if you have a crazy five-setter that goes five hours, it's great and it stays in the history. But if it's like a little bit up and down four-setter that goes for three hours and thirty minutes, I think many people stop watching it from time to time and they go in and out."

"In general, I think for tv, it's not easy not knowing when exactly the match is gonna be because of the previous matches. It's the same for the players. So all of these small details, I would be like okay with three sets. At the same time, who knows? Maybe we'd have different record holders if it was out of three. That makes it also beautiful at the same time. So I'm somewhere in the middle, but a little bit leaning towards three sets," concluded Medvedev.

Daniil Medvedev says he’d prefer if Grand Slam matches were switched to best 2 out of 3 sets:

“What are your thoughts on the matches at majors being 5 sets as opposed to everywhere else where they’re 3?”

Daniil: “I always said I completely understand it and I think it’s very… pic.twitter.com/04XuaOWKON

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) July 1, 2024

Fans should not anticipate changes to the rules soon, nor should they expect for this debate to go away. Tennis fans can follow Sports Illustrated's Serve on SI for all the most important news from the sport.

Further Reading: Carlos Alcaraz stars in a new Nike commercial ahead of Wimbledon.