French Open chiefs have unveiled a raft of changes including final set super tiebreaks ahead of the tennis season's second Grand Slam tournament.
The move means deciding set scores in Paris of 9-7 or 12-10 will be ancient history as all four Grand Slam competitions try to streamline their operations.
"We could no longer afford to do things differently," said French Open tournament director Amélie Mauresmo.
"For reasons of consistency and understanding of the players, fans and media, it was important that the four Grand Slams be aligned," she added.
With the changes, the record for the longest match will be held by the Frenchman Nicolas Mahut and the American John Isner. Their first round match at Wimbledon started at 6:13pm on 22 June 2010, on Court 18.
Saga
Play was suspended just before the start of the final set at 9:07pm due to the fading daylight.
They resumed the next day at 2:05pm and played until the final set was tied at 59 games all at 9:09pm.
Play restarted at 3:40pm on 24 June. Isner won the decider 70-68 at 4:47pm. The final set alone went on for eight hours and 11 minutes.
In total, the match - which involved tiebreaks in the third and fourth sets - took 11 hours and five minutes.
Nine years later, Wimbledon introduced a first-to-seven points final set tiebreaker at 12 games apiece while the final set tiebreak at 6-6 has operated at the US Open since 1970.
The Australian Open brought in the 10-point super tie break at 6-6 for the final sets at the 2018 tournament.
"It was also necessary to preserve the players who were effectively saying goodbye to their tournament after a 16-14 win in the fifth set," added Mauresomo who took over from Guy Forget as tournament boss in December 2021.
"In terms of programming, it also allows us to be a lot more efficient."
Use
Organisers of the French Open say they also want to make sure seats on the show courts of Philippe Chatrier are better utilised.
For years great swaths of seating have remained empty during the lunchtime and early afternoon matches of each day as organisers boast of sell-out crowds.
A special annex-up ticket has been brought in which allows access into all the outside courts and the possibility of using some of those free seats on Philippe Chatrier.
However, once the occupier arrives, the annex-up ticket holder will have to move.
The scheme was set to be introduced in 2020 but was put on ice as coronavirus restrictions reduced the number of spectators at that year's tournament as well as during the 2021 event.
