On tours where numerous tennis matches are played in a single day, the last match often ends past midnight due to bad weather or marathon matches. In the midst of this, recent players have been calling for a more flexible schedule.
Last week at the National Bank Open, the quarterfinal match between Elena Rivakina (Kazakhstan) and Daria Kasatkina (Russia) ended at 3 am due to frequent rain. Rivakina, who was eliminated in the semifinals that followed, criticized “the WTA for not pressuring the organizers of the event to have a flexible schedule, making her run inexperienced.”
Former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) also raised her voice, saying that the game ending in the middle of the night was absurd from her player’s point of view. Iga Sibiong Tech (Poland) also said, “We need to focus on the health of the players,” as the end of the game is increasingly ending late at night.
Despite the wishes of these players, it is known that the organizers of the US Open, which opens on the 28th, will hold a night session this year as in previous years. The US Open held in New York organizes two games in the night session, and the first game starts after 19:00.
Center Court has a retractable roof, so there is no need to worry about rain delays. Last year alone, the quarterfinal match between Yannick Sinner (Italy) and Carlos Alcaras (Spain) started at 10:00 p.m. and ended around 3:00 a.m. the next day.메이저사이트
AFP news agency reported that “(of the US Open) there is no change to this year’s tournament schedule.” Stacey Alester, tournament director of the US Open, said, “After the US Open last year, there were discussions and reconsiderations regarding matches that ended late at night. However, the problem with tennis is that there is no set start time and end time. Sometimes the match ends in a short time. And there are long games that can go up to 5 hours. At this point, we will continue to maintain the form of two night games.”
The American Tennis Association, which hosts this tournament, also emphasized the importance of night games in terms of commercial aspects. CEO Lou Seo said, “Night games are, in a way, ‘sleepless’ New York fans love. Of course, we also have an obligation to protect the players’ health. However, the fans want the night games,” hinting that they will enforce it this year.