'I don't want to be rude' - Naomi Osaka reacts to 'funny' Stefanos Tsitsipas call for longer women's matches

Naomi Osaka has given her reaction to «funny» Stefanos Tsitsipas after he suggested that women's matches could be best-of-five sets. World No. 5 Tsitsipas raised eyebrows in Miami as he made the comments about equal pay and numbers of sets.

The No. 3 seed in the Sunshine State beat Alex De Minaur, 6-4 6-3, to secure his place in the last 16 of the tournament, but his comments have somewhat overshadowed his progress. Ad/> «I don’t want to be controversial or anything,» Tsitsipas said.

«There is also the topic of equal pay and everything, women getting equal pay for playing best-of-three, then getting equal pay for playing best-of-five. WTA Miami'He might scold me for that!' — Osaka jokes coach might not be happy despite win12 HOURS AGO »I don’t know. There are also a lot of scientists and statisticians, whatever, out there.

I’ve been told that women have better endurance than men. I don’t know. «Maybe they can also play best-of-five, I guess.

For Grand Slams, best-of-five, I like it. On the other side, on the other hand, we would have seen much more variety when it comes to different Grand Slam winners if it was best-of-three, I believe. »I very much believe that the winners of Grand Slams would be very different if the format was best-of-three in men." Osaka, who beat Alison Riske, 6-3 6-4, to reach the quarter-finals on Monday evening, gave her response in a press conference and managed to smile about the comments while putting forward her views on the subject.

«Does he want to play nine sets? If he tries to extend mine, I'm going to extend his,» Osaka said. «This guy is so funny, man. I don't know.