This is not about #USOpen caring about the fans. This is about them selling tickets. I am sure all tennis players want nothing more than to play matches that end at 1 AM. Only in tennis does this happen…..
"Only in tennis does this happen": Tennis fans react with dismay as US Open refuses to budge on night sessions
Tennis NewsSunday, 20 August 2023 at 01:00
Tennis fans
reacted to the decision of the US Open to continue with two matches per evening
session.
In recent
weeks, the scheduling of night matches in WTA and ATP tournaments has been
widely discussed, although it's a controversy that has been ongoing. Players
like Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek were among the latest to call for
solutions, as matches often end very late into the night.
Rybakina
recently finished a match at 3 am while facing Daria Kasatkina in the
quarterfinals of the Canadian Open. She highlighted the challenges of finishing
matches so late, as players then have to undergo lengthy recovery sessions that
can last for hours.
Furthermore,
the 2022 Wimbledon champion was scheduled to play semifinals the following
morning with the final set just a few hours later.
This time,
the director of the US Open, Stacey Allaster, confirmed in a press conference
that they will maintain the practice of featuring two matches during the night
sessions.
"At
the moment we're staying the course with two night matches. We'll continue to
evaluate it," she said.
The
announcement by the director was not well received by the fans, who took to
social media to criticize the tournament's organization:
"This
is not about #USOpen caring about the fans. This is about them selling tickets.
I am sure all tennis players want nothing more than to play matches that end at
1 AM. Only in tennis does this happen."
"Crap
answer from Allaster. This is a once a year event. Attendee can make a once a
year arrangement to get to a 6:00 start time. Allaster cares about prime time
revenue. Not about the fans who have to commute home between 1-2:00 am and not
about the players."
Crap answer from Allaster. This is a once a year event. Attendee can make a once a year arrangement to get to a 6:00 start time. Allaster cares about prime time revenue. Not about the fans who have to commute home between 1-2:00 am and not about the players.
Here are
some other reactions from the fans:
Real fans in the US are up at 3am east for Melbourne night sessions and til 1am for the US Open. It's only a few days a year when you add it up. Casuals are always gonna be flaky. It's not every night of the tournament either. It's only the most memorable ones. Fish or cut bait
So their priority is whether *fans* can get to a match on time and not whether *players* can get to sleep on time. Oh it's not fair for the fans, it's really hard for the fans, the poor fans. Zero evaluation of anything that might be fair for the players.
This is not about #USOpen caring about the fans. This is about them selling tickets. I am sure all tennis players want nothing more than to play matches that end at 1 AM. Only in tennis does this happen…..
For night matches, one men’s and one women’s or doubles. Play the women’s or doubles first. If they need to play men’s first and it goes more than 4 hrs, reschedule 2nd match to next day. Common sense. Presumably most fans will feel they got value with 4+ hours.
they've got to determine which problem they want to address: fans' safety or players' health with matches ending past midnight or the empty seats if the night session starts an hour earlier. clearly not an easy choice to make but it comes with the job #USOpen23
It’s obvious to me that tennis matches need to be shorter. Think of ways to make that happen. eg. No repeat deuces, deuce is game point for both players. Final set is a Match tiebreaker. We don’t need 70-68 sets. We don’t need 4-5 hour matches.
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