Tennis matches shortened at Olympics to reduce player strain

LONDON (AP) — The men’s tennis singles final at the Olympics has been shortened to a best-of-three-sets match as part of format changes designed to reduce the workload of players competing in multiple events.

It means all matches across the men’s and women’s singles are now best of three sets with tiebreakers.

In another alteration, the men’s and women’s doubles matches will have a Champions Tiebreak to 10 points when the score is 1-1 in sets, like in mixed doubles.

The International Tennis Federation announced the changes on Wednesday, saying they “reduce concerns of overplay for players who reach the latter stages of all three events — singles, doubles and mixed doubles.”

They will come into effect for the 2020 Games in Tokyo.