Nick Kyrgios calls for Miami Open to become fifth Grand Slam in tennis and here's why

Australia’s Nick Kyrgios has called for the Miami Open to become the fifth Grand Slam in a calendar year. Every year, four major events are played in professional tennis. Two of them are played on the hard court — the Australian Open and US Open. Two other major events are played on the clay and grass courts.

Australia’s tennis star Kyrgios has been recently quoted in a report by Tennis.com where he called for the Miami Open to become the fifth Grand Slam of the year. The 29-year-old was of the opinion that the tournament is ‘by far the best Masters event’ he has played in the world. “This [Miami Open] should be the ‘Fifth Slam,” said Kyrgios. “Let’s just put that to be right now. This is by far the best Masters event in the world, not even close.”

Kyrgios, who was once regarded as the best Australian player playing in men’s tennis in the singles category, has had time to forget after suffering a serious wrist injury. Because of that, the former world number 13 stayed out of action for nearly two years. He returned to the court earlier this year but continued to struggle with fitness concerns.

Kyrgios is currently taking part in the Miami Open where he registered his first win in over two years after beating America’s Mackenzie McDonald with a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The Canberra-born star is now set to face Karen Khachanov in the round of 64. Kyrgios, in the same report, also expressed his opinion about the need for the rules to change at the Grand Slams. The 2022 Wimbledon runner-up believes that matches at the major events should be of three sets till the start of the quarterfinals.

“Grand Slams up to quarterfinals should be best-of-three [sets], and then quarterfinals onward should be best-of-five. I think it would make the first week a lot more interesting,” he said. “If you’re on stadium [court], you should have a 15-minute warmup so you can interact with some of the celebrities. I think that would be more content for the sport,” he reasoned. “It’s just more interactive. I think tennis needs to get into that kind of more modern day, how the sports are now. It needs more content, it needs more fun.”