French Open 2012: Roland Garros and Grand Slams Must Adopt Final-Set Tiebreaker

I'm guessing John Isner would be a fan of Grand Slam tournaments like the French Open switching to a final-set tiebreaker.

And he would be justified in wanting that. The current alternative is absolutely ridiculous and needs to be changed.

At least Isner doesn't have to try to recover for the third round after losing to Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 16-18.

Imagine having to regroup for the third round, which Mathieu has to do after a match that lasted five hours and 41 minutes and a final set that took just under two-and-a-half hours.

Ridiculous.

Of course, Isner seems to have a strange predisposition to playing ridiculously long matches. Remember, he took part in the longest match in tennis history against Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon two years ago. That match took three days and 11 hours and the final set was finally decided in Isner's favor at 70-68.

And thus, Isner should be the face of the movement to add a tiebreaker to the final set in Grand Slam events. As of now, only the US Open uses the tiebreaker system for the deciding set.

While these marathon matches don't often happen, when they do, they are the ultimate drain on the players. Having these players battle for hours on end, trying desperately to break serve to gain the two-game advantage is absurd.

And frankly, not all that compelling to watch after a while.

Slowly, strategy starts to drain from the game as exhausted players find it increasingly difficult to deal with an opponent's serve. The quality of play starts to wane, and what was once a fantastic duel of strategy and creativity has become nothing more than a fitness test.

Some may like a battle of endurance, but I prefer watching tennis played at its highest level. After enough games are exchanged, are these players really capable of delivering that? Is it fair to them to keep them grinding along for such a long stretch?

I don't think so, but I understand that many of you will fully support the system that is currently in place at three of the four Grand Slams, so I encourage you to argue your points in the comments.

It's an interesting debate, and one I think should be raised more often.

Methinks John Isner might agree.

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