Olympic Men’s tennis: Its good bye to energy sapping five-setter

Olympic men’s singles final will no longer be the usual excruciating five setters beginning from Tokyo 2020. The International Tennis Federation has confirmed.

The five -setter has been in operation since 1996 but it appears effort has been made to give players more breathing space with the setters reduced to best of three as opposed to best of five. The reduction puts the men’s finals on the same pedestal with their women counterparts who always have the best of three in all their competitions.

Andy Murray defeated Juan Martin Del Potro over four grueling sets in the final in Rio three years ago and the eventual finalist in Tokyo will be happy to have the business done within a shorter set.

The changes were not only effected in the singles match but also in the doubles.

The men’s and women’s doubles tournaments, meanwhile, will now feature a first-to-10-points tie-break instead of a deciding third set, the same format that has been used for mixed doubles.

“These amendments reduce concerns of overplay for players who reach the latter stages of all three events singles, doubles and mixed doubles” the international tennis federation (ITF) confirmed.

In women’s singles at the last Olympics, Serena Williams who hit the event as defending champion after clinching gold at the 2012 edition in London, failed to make it to the finals losing to Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the third round.

Svitolina did not however maintain the momentum by making it to the final, rather it was unseeded Puerto Rican Monica Puig who  won the gold medal, defeating Germany’s world number two Angelique Kerber in the final, 6–4, 4–6, 6–1.  The Tokyo Olympics will take place between 24 July 2020 and 9 August 2020.

Murray with two Olympic Gold medal won in 2012 and 2016 may be a doubt for the next Olympics in 2020 following recurring complaints over hip pain.

Murray who hired French woman and former player Amelie Mauresmo as coach in 2014, at some point described himself as a feminist after several leading figures in the game criticised his decision to hire a woman as coach.

“Have I become a feminist?” Murray wrote in French sport paper L’Equipe. “Well, if being a feminist is about fighting so that a woman is treated like a man then yes, I suppose I have.” The 31 year old is top among those who believe that both men and women should get the same prize money, an issue that is still far from being implemented