Kim Clijsters has pushed back against Novak Djokovic’s proposal to shorten tennis matches, admitting that she especially didn’t want to hear such an idea coming from someone like the record 24-time Grand Slam champion.
The 39-year-old Serbian tennis giant recently suggested that tennis could consider shortening sets from six games to four while potentially introducing no-ad scoring.
However, Djokovic would keep the best-of-five format at Grand Slams, with his idea aimed at making matches shorter and more predictable in length while still preserving the possibility of momentum swings across five sets.
Clijsters disagrees with Djokovic’s proposal
Clijsters, who won four Grand Slam singles titles between 2005 and 2011, sees things differently. For the Belgian, lengthy battles have produced some of the most memorable moments in tennis history, and taking away the possibility of those matches would hurt the sport.
“I think there’s nothing greater than seeing a four- or five-hour match, and they don’t happen every day, right? But to have a few of them in a tournament, especially if you can have a Novak against Sinner or a Novak against Rafa, Rafa against Roger, those moments, I feel, stand out so much in the history of our sport, and it would be a shame if we don’t have that,” the former four-time Grand Slam champion said on her Love All Podcast.
Clijsters understands the argument but doesn’t want major changes
Clijsters acknowledged why shorter and more predictable matches could appeal to broadcasters and other parties investing in tennis. Still, the former world No. 1 admitted that her “old school” mentality makes her reluctant to support major changes to the traditional format.
So I don’t think I want to see that, but I get, especially from Novak’s side, and I think, and I hear it a lot in the business world as well, there’s a lot of people who talk about that, how TV would make things a lot easier for a lot of parties that are investing into the sport. But I think as a player, but I’m also kind of old school. I don’t like to see a lot of changes to our sport,” the Belgian tennis legend added.