Amid the wild ride of Djokovic-Prizmic, sparing a thought for defending #AusOpen champion Aryna Sabalenka, who is going to walk out to an almost empty Rod Laver Arena some time around midnight. The best-of-three match should always go first in a night session.
Bizarre Grand Slam scheduling woes again under spotlight after Aryna Sabalenka late start at Australian Open
WTASunday, 14 January 2024 at 14:05
With the move to stop late finishes at normal tournaments unveiled ahead of the Australian Open, the first day has shown the issues will be very much still be apparent at Grand Slam tournaments at least.
Aryna Sabalenka will kick off her campaign to finish the night session albeit it will be past midnight local time and with many coming to see Novak Djokovic, it will be a damp squib for the Belarusian on her return to her Grand Slam winning arena.
Rod Laver Arena is very much likely to be half full with many relying on public transport or not wanting to stay past midnight for the second match after Djokovic thrillingly saw off Dino Prizmic. The potential change should be that Sabalenka in this case should play first before Djokovic so both champions get the reception they deserve.
After a light was shone on it heavily during the 2023 season, the WTA matches are very often short changed with many of the top names in Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek being made to play late and in some cases asking for earlier scheduling and making vociferous complaints about playing often back to back matches.
This was the case in particular at Wimbledon with some matches being cancelled due to the sheer number that were due to be played. Jannik Sinner even in Paris which heralded the change was due to play eight hours later and withdrew as a result.
Slightly different being a Grand Slam but in a week where good moves are made, it’s still an issue that needs combatting and ironically in the first 15 day Australian Open done to alleviate these issues is the first iteration of it not helping the flow of the tournament.
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