The French Open is just around the corner, and the tennis world is buzzing with anticipation for the second Grand Slam of the season. As Paris prepares to host another clay-court spectacle, players from both the ATP and WTA Tours are fine-tuning their games. But amidst the excitement, a familiar debate is heating up once again: should women also play best-of-five matches at Grand Slams?

Traditionally, men's matches in majors unfold over five sets, while women compete in three. Yet, a growing chorus of fans and experts is questioning whether this format needs a shake-up. Enter John McEnroe, the fiery American tennis legend, who has stepped into the conversation alongside former WTA star Maria Sharapova.

During a recent appearance on Rushmore, Sharapova was asked directly: "Why have they not changed, at least for the finals in the majors, women to be five sets?" Her response was blunt: "Why would they? Would you want to watch that? You would want to watch from the first point to the last, women's three-out-of-five? No chance. I don't believe it."

McEnroe, never one to shy away from a bold opinion, countered with a historical tidbit. "They did do that for a few years in the women's at Madison Square Garden, where they used to have the final eight top players for a couple years," he recalled. "Like Navratilova, I think Seles, played best of five, and it wasn't a total disaster. Not necessarily more competitive. But there's a lot of times where a two-hour movie is better than a three-and-a-half-hour movie."

Sharapova pushed back, questioning whether the quality would hold up over five sets. "Don't you think the quality will go down, like from the first set to the fifth set?" McEnroe, ever the pragmatist, acknowledged that endurance dips for everyone. "The endurance of men goes down also. A lot of times in the fifth set, guys are both tired," he said, before dropping a compelling compromise: "I believe that there should be best-of-five, where at two sets all there's a 10-point breaker. That's sort of a compromise."

McEnroe's proposal is an intriguing twist that could inject fresh energy into tennis's ongoing format debates. But as any sports fan knows, significant changes like this rarely happen overnight. For now, the focus for many players is less about set counts and more about the simmering prize money dispute, with talk of a larger pot dominating headlines. As the clay season heats up, one thing is certain—whether it's three sets or five, the drama on the court is always worth watching.