The US Open have exposed a major issue within their scheduling on day one of this year’s tournament which impacted Venus Williams.
Like many big tennis tournaments today, the US Open have a night session on both of its two biggest stadiums, the Arthur Ashe Stadium and the Louis Armstrong Stadium.
On Arthur Ashe Stadium on day one, the night session began at 7pm in New York with Mariano Navone beating Novak Djokovic in a match that lasted four hours and 36 minutes.
As a result, it was not until 12:13am when the second night session match between Williams and Sofia Kenin got underway, which is absolutely not acceptable.
The US Open made a huge error with Venus Williams’ scheduling
The day session on Arthur Ashe Stadium was finished before 4:30pm in New York, with Daniil Medvedev beating Hugo Gaston in straight sets.
With an intentionally blank period written on the official US Open schedule between the day and night sessions, there was over two and a half hours without any play on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Therefore for the second night session to be starting past midnight is utterly ridiculous, with Kenin’s 6-2, 7-6(6) victory over Williams concluding at 2:01am to an understandably sparse crowd on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The US Open should not be starting matches this late, and women should also not be starting their matches after a best-of-five set men’s match, which like Djokovic and Navone could last up to four, potentially even five hours.
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This is perhaps even more of an issue in the case of Williams, who received a US Open wildcard to split opinion, having not won a singles match in over a year.
Williams’ wildcard was given purely based on her past success and because of the crowd fanfare she still receives, but the 46-year-old was not even able to get that due to how late the match started.
Alex Eala could also be impacted by the US Open’s bad scheduling
The issue that impacted Williams is set to continue throughout the US Open, and could cause issues for players including Alex Eala.
Eala is viewed as a dark horse at the US Open this year, but her scheduling could really impact her chances of going on a deep run in New York.
For her first round match against qualifier Mary Stoiana, Eala is scheduled on the Louis Armstrong Stadium during the night session on Tuesday, September 1.
Eala and Stoiana are in the second night session match, following the best-of-five set men’s match between Gael Monfils and Adolfo Daniel Vallejo.
Monfils and Vallejo could very well go the distance, meaning that Eala and Stoiana could also be preparing for a very late start like Williams and Kenin.
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The other women’s match confirmed to be impacted by starting in the second night session is between Naomi Osaka and Anastasia Zakharova, which follows Ben Shelton and Tallon Griekspoor on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday, August 31.
Although this is unlikely to be changed at the US Open this year, tennis tournaments need to start addressing these late finishes and instead prioritise both player wellbeing and fan experience rather than making more money out of a night session ticket.
