Australian Open boss Craig Tiley has flagged the possibility of women playing best-of-five sets from the quarter-final stage onwards – and the rule change could come into effect as soon as 2027. Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz and Elena Rybakina are both set to lose about $1.8 million of their prize money due to tax laws.
Alcaraz and Rybakina both took home cheques for $4.15 million for winning the Australian Open titles, beating Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka in the finals respectively. But the actual figure they’ll pocket is more like $2.3 million.
Carlos Alcaraz (L) and Elena Rybakina (R) both receive $4.15 million for winning the Australian Open, which ends up being about $2.3m after tax. Image: Getty
The Australian Open champions will both lose around $1.85 million of their winnings due to tax, with the Australian government taking over 40 per cent of their prize money. When you also add in travel expenses, plus money to pay their coaches and support crew, the tennis superstars lose a massive chunk of their actual winnings.
The Australian Open is one of the few tournaments in the world that offers equal prize money for men and women. Alcaraz and Rybakina both receive the top prize of $4.15m (before tax), despite the fact Alcaraz played an extra set and was on court for an hour longer than Rybakina in their respective finals.
Australian Open keen to move to five sets for women
But that could be set to change, with Tiley revealing on Sunday that he’s keen for the women to play best-of-five in the final three rounds of the tournament. The women currently play best-of-three, and it’s a massive part of the equal prize money debate.
But in 2027 we could see the women play best-of-five in the quarters, semis and final. Tiley said Rybakina’s three-set triumph over Sabalenka on Saturday night showcased what the female stars can offer, and he’d love to see the women produce something similar to the back-to-back five-set epics in the men’s semis between Djokovic and Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev.
Craig Tiley wants to see Elena Rybakina and other top female tennis stars play five sets at the Australian Open.
(Getty Images)
“You can’t replicate that (men’s) semi-final day. That was amazing,” Tiley told AAP. “I’m still like getting chills just thinking about it, and then you can’t replicate that final last side on the women’s side. It was unbelievable.
“One of the things I’ve been saying now is that I think there should be three out of five sets for women. We should look at the last few matches – the quarters and the semis and the finals – and make the women’s side three out of five.
“So it’s something we should put on the agenda and start talking to the players about it because there’s some matches in those last rounds which would have been fascinating had they been three out of five sets. Now I don’t know whether the players would want to do it or not, but it is something we need to consider on the women’s side.”
Tiley said the change will only be made with the full backing of the players. The Australian Open won’t need approval from the grand slam committee to change the rule.