The French Open is over for another year. A slightly unexpected result, if not an entirely unpredictable winner in Novak Djokovic. Indeed, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have won the last three Major tournaments.
However, for the first time a member of the “NextGen” came closest to breaking the duck and winning a Major title. Stefanos Tsitsipas (age 22) took a commanding two sets lead in the final but ran out of steam, mentally and physically. This saw a complete turnaround, considering Djokovic looked so stressed throughout the second set.
Experience told yet again; and the argument is immediately re-awakened. Has the removal of five set finals at the ATP Tour level hindered the development of NextGen players?
I have discussed this twice before in articles, once in 2012 and again in 2015. Far from any improvement, almost ten years on, the situation seems to have worsened. As the three players who were winning the Major tournaments in 2012 are still winning the Major tournaments in 2021. Roger Federer (39 years old), Nadal (35), and Djokovic (34) show no signs of slowing; in fact, Djokovic is winning more than ever.
With no five-set finals at the ATP Tour level, the development of players trying to win Major titles has stunted.
Let’s take a brief look at the history behind the demise of best of five set finals. Before 2008, best-of-five finals took place in seven of the nine Masters (formerly Super Nine) events–Indian Wells, Miami (alternating each year), Monte Carlo, Italian Open, Hamburg, Stuttgart, and Paris-Bercy. By 2008, Hamburg was downgraded and Stuttgart indoor was removed from the calendar, with the Madrid Clay Masters eventually taking its place.
The end of year ATP World Tour finals were also best of five sets for many years. Moreover, besides Masters events, there were also quite a few lower ATP Tour events which had best of five set finals. Those events included Barcelona, St Petersburg, and Vienna in the autumn.
Five set finals were a great foundation for players to get used to ebbs and flows of a long match. Also, upcoming players got to play in front of big crowds with extra media attention. Players like Jim Courier, Andre Agassi, Ivan Lendl, and Roger Federer won ATP best of five set finals before Grand Slams.
Things changed at the 2006 Italian Open final, when Nadal and Federer ran each other ragged for five hours. Nadal won in a fifth set tiebreak but both players pulled out of Hamburg, the next Masters event. Then ATP Chairman Etienne de Villiers decided that best-of-five sets at the ATP Tour level had to stop. This was voted in soon after, and the last best-of-five finals took place in 2007.
The result? A second generation of players who have no best-of-five set experience, other than at Major level.
The first to experience the changes were what is now referred to as the “lost generation.” This is a harsh phrase, but from 2010 to 2019, no player born in the 1990s won a Major tournament. Players such as David Goffin, Grigor Dimitrov, Milos Raonic, Dominic Thiem, and Kei Nishikori all came up empty. Nishikori (born December 1989) reached the US Open final in 2014 losing to Marin Cilic (born 1988). Raonic lost to Murray in the 2016 Wimbledon final. Meanwhile, Dimitrov made the semifinal of Wimbledon in 2014. Thiem did break out to win a major, but that was in the new decade of 2020 at the age of 27.
On paper, the NextGen has more potential than the “lost gen”–partly due to the fact that the top three players can’t play forever. However, even though these guys have been knocking on the door since 2018, none have yet to win a Major title.
The almost successes of the NextGen
Medvedev lost the 2019 US Open final to Nadal, Zverev the 2020 US Open final to Thiem, and Medvedev the 2021 Australian Open final to Djokovic. Tsitsipas the latest to lose from a commanding position in the French Open final. In the 2019 US Open final, Medvedev came from two sets down but lost the fifth set. Thiem lost the 2020 Australian Open final after being two sets to one ahead against Djokovic.
This is an unfortunate pattern. Would a few five-set final wins at the ATP level help players to experience ebbs and flows of big finals? Currently they fold at the critical moments.
Alexander Zverev is one of the more successful young players at ATP Masters level. Zverev won the ATP Tour Finals in 2018, defeating Federer in the semifinal and Djokovic in the final. He also won Masters titles in Rome and Canada in 2017, plus Madrid in 2018. Zverev currently has 24 titles and beats the best players on a regular basis. However, so far at the Major level, Zverev has played ten matches against Top 10 opponents and has lost every match. Most recently in the French Open semifinal, Zverev came back from two sets down only to lose the fifth set. And in the US Open final, Zverev was two sets up, and managed to lose in a fifth set tiebreak.
Zverev also experiences issues playing long five set matches in the early rounds of Major tournaments against journeymen players–not conserving his energy for the latter rounds when it is needed.
There are a plethora of players coming through who can become potential Grand Slam champions in the future. Italy has teenagers Jannick Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti. Interestingly, Musetti held a two set lead on Djokovic in the fourth round of the French Open but ran out of steam completely. What we now want to see is one of the “NextGen” beat Djokovic or Nadal in a
The tennis players of today need a helping hand. It is unlikely the ATP will restore best-of-five set finals at tour level. However, there must be concern among the decision makers that the “NextGen: are taking too long to come through. After all, the “lost gen” never came through.
Best-of-five set finals at tour level may well be the training ground the “NextGen” need to learn their trade properly. Long matches should not be the determining factor in ditching the best-of-five format. Djokovic and Nadal are the only two players left at the top level who take too long between points. The NextGen play quick; five set matches would not last five hours.
This is something the ATP Tour should reconsider: restoring best of five set finals.
Main Photo from Getty.
