Five Sets at the French Open
Saturday at the 2008 French Open was awash not in raindrops, but in five set matches on the men’s side. Yet again tennis fans had to sit through several lengthy five set matches. Meanwhile, top seed, Roger Federer, had to wait around through two women’s matches and then Gael Monfils’ five set victory. Especially on clay where the rallies can drag on, the five set matches can be extremely grueling for both players and
fans. Certainly, there can be exciting moments in these five set encounters, but the length of the match can affect the level of play. For example, it seemed that Jurgen Melzer was drained from his five set match in the previous round and faded a bit in the fourth and fifth sets against the talented Frenchman, Gael Monfils. In a five set match, the tension is simply extended or delayed compared to a three set match. After slogging through several of these five-setters, a simple, fast, exciting three set match sounds VERY appealing right now…
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