Tennis legend John McEnroe has called for Grand Slam tournaments to ditch the traditional fifth set in favour of a 10-point super tiebreak.
The seven-time major winner put forward his proposal while attending the Laver Cup in London over the weekend.
McEnroe, who formerly captained Team World at the event before Andre Agassi took over the role, pointed to the Laver Cup's own format as a model worth adopting. The competition uses best-of-three sets, with a 10-point tiebreak replacing the deciding set.
His suggestion comes in the wake of Carlos Alcaraz's US Open quarter-final defeat to Ben Shelton, which concluded at 3.33am and sparked fresh debate about the impact of excessively late finishes at Major championships.
"I like the way it ends. I would even suggest – because people's attention span seems to be a lot less than they used to be – in the men's game, play best of five, but at two sets all, play a 10-point tiebreaker," McEnroe said.
The American acknowledged that progress has already been made, with all four Grand Slams now employing tiebreakers in the final set. However, he argued this does not go far enough.
"Some of the matches I called, a few matches that went late into the night at the [US] Open, some went in excess of five hours," he said. "So we're seemingly getting more on the same page, but I still think more needs to be done because it's a great sport that we have. You don't want people playing at 3.30 in the morning."
McEnroe conceded, though, that his proposed rule change would not have entirely resolved the scheduling chaos surrounding the Alcaraz-Shelton clash. Earlier that day, both Aryna Sabalenka and Frances Tiafoe had their matches go to deciding-set tiebreaks, pushing the night session back considerably. Jessica Pegula's contest also stretched to three sets, meaning Alcaraz and Shelton did not step on court until after 11pm.
"It would have ended at 2.30, which is too late, even if it'd been a [tiebreak]. So either way you looked at it, it was too late," McEnroe said.
He also lamented that one of the finest matches of the year was played before a negligible television audience. "I bet you the ratings were terrible because it's 3.30 in the morning. Who's watching that?" he added. "So I think those are the type of things that could help to some extent. It's not going to solve it completely."
Alcaraz himself laid bare the toll such late finishes take on players' bodies and preparation. "For an athlete finishing at 3.30am, it means we had to leave the courts on site at 4.30am almost," the Spaniard explained. "Then getting back to the hotel. You don't get to bed until like 6.30am or 7am."
The seven-time Major champion argued that opponents who finish earlier gain a clear physical edge in subsequent rounds.
"For an athlete to recover for the next match, you have a day, but for the next match, it's like the other player is with an advantage," he said. "I think it's too much. They have got to do something. I am not saying 3.30am, but [even] finishing at 12am, it is too late already."
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