Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Tennis final changed to best-of-three sets

The International Tennis Federation has announced a couple of tweaks to the tennis formats for next year’s 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

The men’s final is to switch from the best-of-five sets to best-of-three tie-break sets, which brings the gold medal match into line with other singles matches at the Olympics.

“These amendments reduce concerns of overplay for players who reach the latter stages of all three events — singles, doubles and mixed doubles,” the ITF said in a statement.

Great Britain’s Andy Murray is the reigning men’s Olympic champion and he needed four sets to beat Juan Martin del Potro from Argentina at the 2016 Rio Games.

The last time the gold medal match went to five sets was at the 2004 Athens Games when Chile’s Nicolas Massu beat Mardy Fish from the United States.

In another change, both the men’s and women’s doubles matches will feature a tie-break to 10 points in the deciding third set.