Victoria Azarenka has shown support for shorter matches at a higher frequency and criticised any moves for women to play five sets.
One of the biggest format changes of 2023 saw Wimbledon reduce the length of men's doubles from five sets to three sets. Originally, Wimbledon was the only Grand Slam where men's doubles were contested over five sets until the rule changes this season.
When speaking to the press after her first-round victory against Magda Linette at the Canadian Open, Victoria Azarenka argued that shorter matches were more beneficial to tennis. Moreover, the Belarusian explained how she is a big opposition to women playing five-set matches in Grand Slams.
"We see, I don't know, UTS, how exciting it is for young kids to come and show. I'm not saying let's do UTS on the tour, but let's look at some options because some of the meetings we had with the Grand Slam, the best idea they came up with to add more drama is to have women play out of five sets. I'm sorry. That was just the dumbest thing I've heard."
Azarenka has been an advocate for changing the traditional approaches to WTA and ATP events. In particular, the two-time Grand Slam winner previously argued that longer matches could lead viewers to switch off.
In addition, the 34-year-old said that tennis can learn from other sports on how to advertise tennis and appeal to new viewers. The Belarusian also admitted that the answers are not clearly available at the moment, but she would support trialing some new approaches in the future.
"I mean, you have to look at the market. You have to look at viewership. You have to look at where the directions of other sports, other leagues are going."
"I don't have all the answers, but I think that it's worth looking and compromising and trying. Some things can fail, but you can go back, but to try and see."
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