Naomi Osaka laughs off Stefanos Tsitsipas’ ‘funny’ five-sets proposal

Naomi Osaka has laughed off Stefanos Tsitsipas’ suggestion that women’s tennis matches could be best-of-five sets. 

Tstispas broached the subject after beating Australia’s Alex De Minaur in straight sets at the Miami Open –– booking his place in the last 16 of the tournament. 

The debate as to whether women should play five-set matches has long been a contentious topic and while the Greek star insisted it was not his intention to be “controversial”, his words have nonetheless been deemed invalid by Osaka. 

Speaking after his third-round victory, the third seed said: “I don’t want to be controversial or anything. 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.

“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 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.”

Tsitsipas blew a two-set lead over Novak Djokovic in the French Open final last year, missing out on the chance to claim his first major title. 

But Osaka, who is a four-time Grand Slam winner in her own right, had no sympathy for the 23-year-old. 

“Does he want to play nine sets? If he tries to extend mine, I’m going to extend his,” she said while smiling. 

Naomi Osaka was amused when told today in press about Stefanos Tsitsipas' suggestion that women could play