{"id":68444,"date":"2026-09-08T06:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T06:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/68444\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T06:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T06:49:11","slug":"aus-open-poised-for-jaw-dropping-move-as-tennis-chief-reveals-possible-rule-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/68444\/","title":{"rendered":"Aus Open poised for jaw-dropping move as tennis chief reveals possible rule changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tennis Australia CEO Andrew Abdo has revealed the sport could ditch five-set matches and change its scoring system in the future in a bombshell statement.<\/p>\n

The Australian Open is widely considered one of the most iconic events on the calendar, with a record-breaking 1.36 million people attending the 2026 edition.<\/p>\n

Be the first to know when news breaks. Download our new app<\/a><\/p>\n

But ex-NRL chief executive Abdo, who took over Tennis Australia\u2019s top job from Craig Tilley last month, feels major alterations may still need to take place to retain the sport\u2019s audience.<\/p>\n

And in a startling admission, he discussed reducing five-set matches and switching up the scoring system \u2014 a move he is aware would anger die-hard tennis lovers.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Herald Sun<\/a>, he said: \u201cMaybe in the future slams at the different rounds or at different lengths of duration, you know, maybe we\u2019re not playing best of 5 all the way through, maybe the point scoring system changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe there are different permutations to how we engage and entertain audiences without losing the fabric, and what really makes the sport special.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think those are the questions that we need to explore and discover, and I think there\u2019s a place for evolving that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you listen to the purists, they\u2019ll say, \u2018don\u2019t touch that\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut actually… if you look at sports around the world, if you\u2019re not thinking about that product in a way that\u2019s contemporary, in a way that\u2019s going to connect with young people, then I think you\u2019re going to be left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Wanna<\/p>\n

Abdo\u2019s controversial remarks come amid a furore at the US Open.<\/p>\n

Influencers have made headlines at the New York event<\/a> by disrupting play with their content.<\/p>\n

During Naomi Osaka\u2019s first-round match last week, the chair umpire was forced to step in and tell influencers to take their seats.<\/p>\n

The behaviour has led Wimbledon organisers to insist they leave their ring lights at home or risk them being confiscated at the next year\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n

While the US Open offered accreditation to 100 content creators alongside media, it\u2019s understood Wimbledon will not have any accreditation available for influencers at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tennis Australia CEO Andrew Abdo has revealed the sport could ditch five-set matches and change its scoring system…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[26251,26242,23751,26270,25935,26253,26266,26264,26261,24346,26267,26244,16418,3758,25910,14837,25951,26265,26257,26279,26252,26250,26248,2876,2856,26269,1056,1876,6865,26273,26268,26260,17018,3011,26245,6640,270,54,26256,2827,5814,26241,50,28,674,26283,26255,26281,26243,26276,16018,24796,23743,26271,26277,24040,16649,26254,19467,26282,26259,26258,26263,26246,26278,26272,26274,16800,26280,4701,26275,22478,14868,26262,26249,26247,285,25890,17585],"class_list":["post-68444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-s-audience-and","tag-s-controversial-remarks","tag-s-first-round-match","tag-s-top-job","tag-100-content-creators","tag-26253","tag-a-bombshell-statement","tag-a-furore","tag-a-move","tag-a-place","tag-a-record-breaking-1-36-million-people","tag-a-startling-admission","tag-a-way","tag-abdo","tag-accreditation","tag-all-the-way","tag-any-accreditation","tag-audiences","tag-aus-open","tag-craig-tilley","tag-die-hard-tennis-lovers-speaking","tag-different-lengths","tag-different-permutations","tag-duration","tag-fans","tag-five-set-matches","tag-headlines","tag-home","tag-influencers","tag-its-scoring-system","tag-jaw-dropping-move","tag-jaw-dropping-rule-change","tag-last-month","tag-last-week","tag-major-alterations","tag-media","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-news","tag-our-new-appbut-ex-nrl-chief-executive-abdo","tag-place","tag-play","tag-possible-rule-changes","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-tennis-australia","tag-tennis-australia-ceo-andrew-abdo","tag-tennis-ceo-andrew-abdo","tag-tennis-chief","tag-that-product","tag-the-2026-edition-be","tag-the-australian-open","tag-the-calendar","tag-the-chair-umpire","tag-the-different-rounds","tag-the-fabric","tag-the-first","tag-the-future","tag-the-future-slams","tag-the-herald-sun","tag-the-incredible-changes","tag-the-most-iconic-events","tag-the-new-york-event","tag-the-next-year","tag-the-point-scoring-system","tag-the-purists","tag-the-questions","tag-the-scoring-system","tag-the-sport","tag-the-sport-special","tag-the-us-open","tag-the-us-open-influencers","tag-the-works","tag-the-world","tag-their-content-during","tag-their-ring-lights","tag-their-seats-the-behaviour","tag-wimbledon","tag-wimbledon-organisers","tag-young-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}