Novak Djokovic's match at the 2024 French Open finished at 3am last night as he saw off Lorenzo Musetti 7-5, 6-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the end in the latest finish ever seen at Roland Garros which Boris Becker branded 'mad and frankly unprofessional'.
Becker responded to a tweet from coach and commentator, Mark Petchey responding quite poorly to the issue that took place saying that if he does win the tournament, it will be his greatest achievement. "If @DjokerNole wins @rolandgarros it will be his greatest achievement ever in a single event
Madness to finish at 3am from a recovery point of view.
When a tournament is struggling this much to catch up through no fault of its own, they should just call a Monday Final early so this doesn’t happen," said Petchey on Twitter/X.
Becker responded to this agreeing and said the only sport that is any way similar is boxing. But that when they fight late, it is only ever every six months instead of most days during a Grand Slam. "Mark , you make very good point. Think it’s mad and frankly unprofessional from the organisers to allow matches past 1am …which other sport has to deal with something similar? Maybe boxing but they have 1 fight every 6 month."
It has been an issue that has been ongoing for a number of years at major tournaments. Switching from concluding the tournaments at dusk, they seemingly have sold out in order to help TV broadcasters in shoehorning in an extra session. Instead of playing through all the way until the end of the day which would see earlier finishes. It also happens in particular at Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open with 4am finishes at some. Wimbledon is the only tournament with some semblance of a curfew though.
