SINGAPORE — Tennis fans at the WTA Finals Singapore on Tuesday (Oct 24) were treated to a marathon encounter between hard-hitters Venus Williams and French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, which saw the American veteran eventually clinching victory in the round-robin match after 193 minutes of action on court.

Unfortunately for event organisers, the weeknight crowd had already started to thin out by the time the next singles match between Karolina Pliskova and Garbine Muguruza got underway after 11pm.

Three-hour matches could soon be a thing of the past, as the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) looks into new formats and changes to make the sport more appealing to a younger audience.

Ninety-minute matches, shorter sets, and third-set tie breakers could be introduced as soon as 2022, WTA chairman and chief executive officer Steve Simon told TODAY.

“The 90min match allows us to programme for broadcast and fans who come, as an example (on Tuesday), we had a match that started at 7.30pm but didn’t end until almost 11,” said Mr Simon, who is in town for the WTA Finals at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

“People don’t allocate three to five hours to watch anything anymore, they want it to be in a more concise window and we have to recognise that for the future.

“If (our players) play 90-minute matches instead of three hours, they will be healthier — which means they’ll play (with) more (quality) which drives more value to the fans. It’s those purposes that we need to look at things.”

But Mr Simon stressed that the changes will take time, as the sport of tennis will need to embrace them.

He added: “We’ve seen other sports make some significant changes in formats and see success, cricket as an example with the Twenty20, rugby 7s. You have to look at them over the next five to 10 years... every sport is looking at it, it’s something that we have to for sure.”

WILL WTA FINALS RETURN FOR 2019?

Talk among the tennis community and fans at this year’s WTA Finals has centred on the possibility of the season-ending tournament staying in Singapore after its five-year contract ends next year.

Amid discussions between the Singapore Tourism Board and the WTA, four other cities — Manchester, Prague, St Petersburg, and Shenzhen — have submitted their bids for the tournament. Two other venues have also indicated their interest.

Mr Simon said at the WTA year-end press conference on Wednesday (Oct 25) that the venue for 2019 will be announced in April after all the bids are evaluated by the board.

But the WTA chief admitted he is keen for the tournament to stay on in Singapore for the future.

“I’ve always said I love Singapore, I think it’s a wonderful destination for this event, they’ve done a great job,” he said. “It’s a place that we would certainly be interested in talking about the future along with the others that have provided their indication of interest.”

Mr Simon added: “Money always is an element. Looking for someone who wants a long-term commitment, because that’s what we’re looking for, the destination, the time zones, the commercial opportunities, the fanbase — all of those things play into it.”

While competition will be stiff, Singapore will benefit from its experience of hosting the event over the last three years.

Mr Simon said: “What they (other bid cities) don’t have is the four years that this event has had here in Singapore, so we’ll see where we get to.

“I think it certainly helps their bid, I’m not going to say it’s an edge one way or the other, but it certainly helps the perspective because it certainly checks one of the boxes about the consistency in operating the event, and there’s a lot of elements with respect to the destination and the opportunities here that are very appealing.”