Rafael Nadal, the 21-time grand slam winner, says the recently announced introduction of final-set tie-breaks across all grand slams will make the biggest impact at Wimbledon, rather than the French Open.
Tennis' Grand Slam Board announced this week that first-to-10 tie-breaks will be trialled across all grand slams with immediate effect, as a means of providing "greater consistency" to matches which go the distance.
Previously, each grand slam was free to adopt its own rules for deciding longer matches, with the Australian Open the only one to use first-to-10 tie-breaks at 6-6 in a deciding set.
Wimbledon, for example, used a first-to-seven tie-break to decide final sets which reached 12-12.
Speaking after dispatching Reilly Opelka in straight sets at the Indian Wells Masters, Nadal, who will look to add to his Australian Open triumph in the year's other three majors, explained he was not for or against the changes.
The 35-year-old also, however, predicted the alterations would have a bigger impact at Wimbledon than at the French Open, which he could win for a 14th time at Roland Garros in May.
"I don't care much, honestly!" said Nadal. "I am not in favour or not against, that's what they decided, and happy with it or not, I don't think I'm going to make a big difference.
"But I read that every [tournament] is going to have the same, and in some ways that's positive.
"I don't think at Roland Garros it will make a big impact. In my opinion the biggest impact is going to be at Wimbledon, [where] sometimes it's so difficult to break serve, so the matches become very long.
"I don't feel that for Roland Garros it will change a lot. Okay, [without the changes] it can be a few more games, but I don't think at Roland Garros you're normally going to go to 22-20. At Wimbledon, that can happen."
The longest men's singles match played at a grand slam, judged by the number of games played, came at Wimbledon in 2010, when John Isner beat Nicolas Mahut 6-4 3-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-3) 70-68.
By contrast, the longest men's singles match in French Open history saw Fabrice Santoro beat fellow Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-4 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 3-6 16-14, in 2004.
After defeating Opelka in his round-of-16 tie at Indian Wells, Nadal will now face Australia's Nick Kyrgios for a place in the semi-finals.
Earlier in the week, the Spaniard became the first-ever player to reach 400 wins at Masters 1000 tournaments by beating Dan Evans in the last 32.
Zheng sets up Sabalenka meeting after reaching first WTA 1000 final in Wuhan
Zheng Qinwen is through to the Wuhan Open final after a straight-sets win over Wang Xinyu.
In a historic, first-ever all-Chinese semi-final at a WTA 1000 event, Zheng reached her first such final, prevailing 6-3 6-4.
There was little to separate the two in the opening exchanges – just as Zheng edged in front with the first break in the fourth game, Wang responded, levelling the scores back at 3-3.
However, Zheng rallied, successfully defending a break point on her way to winning the last three games in a row to take the first set.
Wang faced 12 break points throughout the match, but failed to defend one in the second-set opener, before protecting three as she took a 2-1 lead.
Despite her fight, the Olympic gold medallist dug deep once more, getting two back-to-back breaks in order to clinch clinching the match.
She will face Aryna Sabalenka, who has never lost a match in Wuhan, in the final on Sunday.
Data Debrief: Home favourite
It has been a banner year for Zheng, who is also still in with a chance of qualifying for the WTA finals. Including the Olympics, she has reached the final of four events during 2024, the most she has managed during a single season.
Only Qiang Wang and Shuai Peng (four each) have made more WTA level finals on Chinese soil than Zheng (three, Zhengzhou and Zhuhai in 2023 and Wuhan in 2024) among Chinese players in the Open Era.
In fact, Zheng is just the second Chinese player to reach the final of a WTA 1000 event since the introduction of the format in 2009, after Li Na.
Djokovic overcomes injury scare to set up Sinner final in Shanghai
Novak Djokovic is just one game away from securing a 100th Tour-level title after reaching the Shanghai Masters final with a straight-sets triumph over Taylor Fritz.
Djokovic needed a medical timeout deep into the second set, but was able to hold on to secure a 6-4 7-6 (8-6) victory to set up an encounter with Jannik Sinner in the final.
The Serbian missed three break points in the opening game, but was able to get his nose in front in the fifth game after breaking the American's serve.
Djokovic held his serve for the remainder to gain the early advantage, moving within touching distance of a record-extending 59th Masters 1000 final and his first of 2024.
But Fritz responded well in the second set, despite Djokovic producing some stunning tennis that included a brilliant backhand winner in the fifth game which drew applause from his American opponent.
The pair continued to trade blows, with a tie-break deciding whether the game would go the distance or Djokovic would reach a record fifth final in Shanghai.
And Djokovic held his nerve, fighting back from 5-3 down to seal his progression to Sunday's showpiece, becoming the 13th different ATP Masters 1000 finalist so far this year.
Data Debrief: Djokovic one away from history
With a fifth final at the Shanghai Masters, surpassing Andy Murray (four) for the outright most at the event, Djokovic has now reached five or more finals at each of the current ATP Masters 1000 events on hard court.
Fritz is now the sixth opponent Djokovic has defeated in each of their opening 10 head-to-head meetings at ATP level, along with Andreas Seppi, Gael Monfils, Jeremy Chardy, Marin Cilic and Milos Raonic.
Only Jimmy Connors (164), Roger Federer (157) and Ivan Lendl (146) in the Open Era have reached more ATP event finals than the Serbian (141).
Sabalenka reaches third straight Wuhan final with comeback Gauff win
Aryna Sabalenka produced a stunning comeback to reach the Wuhan Open final, coming from a set and a break down to end Coco Gauff's nine-match winning run.
In a repeat of their Australian Open semi-final clash in January, Sabalenka again emerged victorious, winning 1-6 6-4 6-4 in two hours and 28 minutes.
Gauff wasted no time in stamping her authority on the contest, breaking Sabalenka's serve in consecutive games to race into a comfortable 5-0 lead in the opening set.
Sabalenka eventually get her first point on the board in the sixth game, but the damage had already been done, with Gauff claiming the early advantage, dropping just 13 points in doing so.
The second set saw both players fail to hold serve, with the first five games seeing consecutive break points before Gauff took control, only for Sabalenka to win the next two games on the spin and hold on to take the encounter the distance.
Sabalenka started brightly in the decider, taking an early 3-0 lead, with the third game seeing 19 points contested before the Belarusian hammered home her advantage.
The American managed to claw her way back into the contest, though, winning three games on the spin. But Sabalenka broke one final time, with Gauff striking her 21st double fault to seal Sabalenka's progression to the final.
Sabalenka will face the winner of the first all-Chinese semi-final at a WTA 1000 event between Qinwen Zheng and Xinyu Wang's on Sunday.
Data Debrief: Super Sabalenka
Sabalenka hit 31 winners during the contest, becoming the first player to hit 1000 winners in WTA-1000 since Opta collects this data in 2021.
The Belarusian also became the player with the joint most finals reached in WTA events held in China in the Open Era (six), level with Alison Riske & Jelena Jankovic.
She is now the player with the most main draw wins at the Wuhan Open since the tournament's inception in 2014, equalling Petra Kvitova's total of 16.
Only Jannik Sinner (eight, including Shanghai) has made more Tour level finals than Sabalenka in 2024 (seven, including Wuhan).
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