Australian Open chief proposes best-of-5 set women’s matches from quarterfinals onward

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 Australian Open men’s singles final between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.

Craig Tiley, the leader of the Australian Open, plans to push for a series of transformational changes to the tournament, including making women’s matches best-of-five sets, rather than best of three, from the quarterfinals onward.

“All the research shows interest grows as the match goes on,” Tiley said in an interview Sunday afternoon ahead of the men’s final.

“As a sport, we need to evolve.”

Grand Slams can propose rules that make them different from each other. In the 2000s and 2010s, the majors had different rules for how to end a match, from long sets to tiebreaks at different scorelines. They unified on a 10-point match tiebreak in 2022. Late last month, Tennis Australia, of which Tiley is chief executive, reached a settlement agreement with the Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA) in its antitrust lawsuit against the four Grand Slams and men’s and women’s tours, putting the Australian Open essentially on the PTPA’s side.

Representatives for the other three Grand Slams did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tiley’s proposals.

Tiley, who has gained a reputation as the most innovative leader in tennis, said remaking the women’s format was one of a series of changes he wants to see in the coming years.

Other changes include remaking the look of the tennis court, beginning with getting rid of the umpire’s chair. Umpires would still have a role in overseeing matches, but they would carry that out from a seat on the side of the court, a bunker underneath the stadium. From there, they could come onto the court to settle any disputes that arise.

Tiley also wants to speed up the pace of the competition by getting rid of the warmup time ahead of the match and ending “lets” on serve, which he says add about 15 hours of match time over the course of the tournament.

Tiley said that beginning next year, the player benches will change into mini performance centers. They will have heating and cooling technology, the ability to measure a player’s physical condition, and screens that might give players access to the same data the coaches have, if the rules on data collection are adjusted to allow it.

There will also be a series of changes to the fan experience. The tournament plans to add more space, shade, seats and screens to allow the tournament to handle its growing popularity.

Some 1.3 million fans came through the gates during the past three weeks, with record attendance on many of the days. That led to complaints about long lines, as well as fans being unable to watch any matches on courts without reserved seating.

Tiley said the tournament was trying to grow while making sure the fan experience stayed enjoyable.

The tournament will bring back the successful One-Point Slam, likely with even more main draw players who want a shot at the $1 million AUD prize.

Tiley’s proposals come at a unique moment for tennis. Many of them will have to be discussed with players, who are pushing for more input in the operation of all tournaments, and the other leaders of Grand Slams. The women’s players might not be delighted to be told that they have a possible format change on the horizon.

Also, Tiley is a leading candidate to become the new leader of the U.S. Tennis Association and the U.S. Open. He declined to comment on whether he expected to be leading the Australian Open next year, but said Tennis Australia has a five-year plan to incorporate these changes, many of which have a financial component. Remaking the player bench areas could allow the tournament to collect more money from sponsors that supply the equipment. Getting rid of the umpire chairs could remove an obstruction from some of the most expensive seats.

Tiley would like to have the support of the other Grand Slams but knows some of them might resist changes, and Tennis Australia has previously made competition changes on its own. Not long ago, all four Grand Slams had those different rules for final-set tiebreaks.

“There are going to be people who say this is ridiculous and others who say it is a good idea,” he said. “The idea is to have a discussion.”

Women have previously expressed little interest in playing best of five. Many have complained the sport’s leaders are already asking too much of them.