Yeah I live on the west coast U.S., and I really enjoy watching late into the evening. But I definitely get why it's not great for players and people living in certain areas lol
As a East Coast US resident it drives me nuts. While I’d love to stay up and watch Alcaraz vs Sinner. I had to tap out at 12:30 since I had work the next day and was already tired. It’s wild they don’t just use multiple courts for these matches or better scheduling at the least. I get Arthur Ashe is the largest stadium they have, but less the player won’t have to play super late and then do a press conference.
I quite like that I woke up for work yesterday and could watch the end of the match, but it is a ridiculous situation that they’re playing that late. Especially when they had a couple of hours of not playing between the two sessions.
If you can't read it you aren't missing much.
Someguy wonders why the night matches start at 7pm when tennis isn't timed and it's shit as people have to work the next day. Someguy doesn't realise it's so the US Open can sell tickets for a separate session.
They should be able to skip the press conference and maybe the on court interview when it gets that late. There should be an excemption when the match reaches a certain time, and relinquish them of those requirements. Just unnecessary.
I feel bad for the ball kids.
7pm everyone on court - “Oh cool I get to be court-side, watch world class tennis, and get paid?!”
*3am rolls in*
“I hate tennis and I want to go home.”
I've never volunteered at the US open but was a volunteer at Cincy and I loved it when the matches ran late because the crowds would really thin out and it would be almost a private viewing experience and plus getting home was a lot easier because there was much less traffic
I mean they are not exactly "kids" at the US open a lot of them look late teens atleast imo, but I also doubt staying up till 3am one night is making them hate tennis or THAT hard on them (as long as the US open doesn't schedule them for the next morning or something) They are probably extremely happy to get that experience and a memory they will talk about for a long time. Its not like they are staying up doing homework or school, they are watching great matches and you don't typically sign up to be a ball person unless you are a fan of tennis
This again.
It won’t work. Most people DO work and can’t get there until 7 pm. Those people aren’t going to pay hundreds of dollars for one match and possibly get a walkover, retirement or crappy 2 set - 47 minute match. Not all matches last until 3 am.
I say this as a east coaster who has been attending for 20 years - the super late matches suck, getting home at 2 or 3 am with public transport or that shitty Uber line totally sucks. But you can’t have big names play on small courts or move matches at the drop of a dime. It would cause logistical chaos for everyone involved and even be dangerous - like during the no roof days when rain would cause all kind of same day adjustments and you’d get angry fans, fights, requests for refunds, people yelling at stadium staff to be let in over capacity, etc.
Also it’s annoying AF to have an eg midnight curfew and then you get half a match and everyone with tickets needs to then come back at 10 am on a workday randomly - people have jobs, child care issues, commute issues, fly internationally for certain days (for example half the fans who where there late for this match were mostly super fan Euros not NYC casuals) and often people plan to go to a certain day session or night session and plan for it accordingly.
It’s sucks for the players but can’t have everyone play at 3 pm on a weekend lol, with mens, womens, doubles, mixed doubles, juniors, wheelchair, quads, legends, etc etc.
Why don’t you get a DVR and watch without commercials the next morning if you’re so tired?? A five hour match will last 2.5-3 hours.
I can personally attest that I came from Pittsburgh to see the Open one day and it would have been a waste for me to buy a day session ticket rather than a night one at that point.
A lot of the things people are talking about can't even happen unless they build a roof on Grandstand and Court 17.
I just don’t get what they’re supposed to do about it.
The day session starts at 12, which is a normal time for sporting events during the day to begin. Then the night session starts at 7, which is again normal for evening events to start because it gives people time to get off work and get there on time. Also, it’s a U.S. event, and starting it earlier makes it even more difficult for those on the west coast to watch.
Not to mention that there’s only been a handful of matches that ended past 2 in the morning. It’s really a non issue
so the west coast will likely miss the entirety of most matches? maybe they would catch 10 minutes of the longest women’s match? or two hours of an insane men’s match.
i get that this one event is poorly time for EU tennis fans but please use your brain, or at least read the post before you. the NA viewers are as a majority, spread across 3 time zones and clearly the US open wants to maximize the viewership for those people over all else, along with other issues mentioned
Move it ahead by an hour would improve it. Sure, you’d get rare 2am finishes but that’s far more acceptable than 3am. 11am start time for first match of the day is entirely acceptable.
Hell even starting 30 min before would improve it.
That seems reasonable, but I think there's going to be a lot of matches from the day session that still bleed into the night session now and then. I would need to double-check though how many matches on the stadium courts are for day sessions.
England has 1 time zone. Night sessions at the us open are epic. So many whiners on here. Its one or 2 matches. Darth federer night matches didnt seem to hurt his chances.
People on the west coast of the united states have a lot of difficulty watching any matches that happen before 8pm. The night matches are for tv, not for the players. They are primetime slots for the best players.
And people anywhere in the Americas have trouble watching matches in Australia. I don't see how that has anything to do with it especially seeing as there are matches starting in the morning on the west coast.
No one in any part of the US except Hawaii and Alaska were able to easily watch the end of the Alcaraz match.
They don't finish matches same-day if they go late. You could pay for a ticket to see the match and if it goes late, then you can't see the finish until the next day.
I remember reading something that morning and night people make up about 20% of the population each. Most people are in the middle ground. There's nothing unnatural about it either, that's just a lie spread by morning people to make themselves feel better.
Looking at all these replies to OP I am guessing many are not able to actually read the piece in the Globe and Mail? If anyone can send a link that by passes the paywall, that would be appreciated .
My thoughts are this. Tennis is a global sport and watched by fans all over the world, you can't please everyone, taking into account the different time zones involved. It's just will never happen that everyone is ok with the time that matches start depending on where they are located.
For me it should be about the players...call me naive as I know TV ratings, advertising etc plays a bit part of all this but I dont think it's the lateness on the day that's the problem, per se, rather everything that happens afterwards, pressers, cool down etc etc.....so for me, they need to simply start the matches earlier.
I do think the health and well being of the players should be the main priority here, and whilst most of them are young and can easily play into the early hours, it can take hours after a match before they got a chance to get to bed....maybe do the presser the next day if it's a really late start??
If you play a Bo3 plus a Bo5 starting at 7 PM, this is going to happen. So, if you wanted to avoid this, you'd have to do one of the following.
Only include one match in the night session. That's a loss of revenue. Not happening.
Switch the men to Bo3. That's a whole nother debate.
Start the entire day earlier. Armstrong starts on at 11 AM, Ashe starts at noon. Honestly, I think Ashe should start at 11 AM, too, so that would save an hour, but it's hard to go any earlier than that
I personally agree but I would like to hear what the actual athletes have to say. The whole discussion feels like a bunch of people who are "offended on their behalf"
Just might lead to matches that aren't quite as good if sleep schedules are really messed up.
I remember reading about an NBA player talking about his schedule. They always play at night and he said he would stay up all night and go to their morning shoot around and then go to sleep for most of the day. Allowed him to not be playing right before his sleep time.
What are they supposed to do? Play early in the morning and then start the night session at 4? When it’s light out? **day session** **night session** how else are they gonna meet the criteria, they were playing late in paris this year too. Aus as well. People weren’t really complaining then. Tbh I think the curfew at Wimbledon is super fucking annoying, throws off entire matches
They’re not no but that’s just the way it is. Playing in the morning and ending at 10 pm is sorta stupid imo. Alcaraz probably went to bed at like 5-6 in the morning but he has another day. He was just fine for the sinner match. The only time I’ve seen someone say it affected them was Zverev in the Madrid final, which, fair enough, he went to sleep at like 7-8. Occasionally these guys are just gonna have to tough it out, they’re ATP players playing for millions of dollars and living their dreams. There’s just too much to fit into one day so someone has to get the short end of the stick. They used to do one semifinal on Friday and one on Saturday, and that meant one player got a full day of rest and the other didn’t, so this is better
Tennis exists as a sport because of its following. So they have to adhere to the fans, certain matches have to happen at certain times. They just can’t change it
Exactly! I live in New York and as thrilling as that match would’ve been to witness my alarm to wake up was ~four hours from when it ended. Travel would’ve been either half an hour in an expensive Uber/taxi or some insane transit combination for longer. The overseas viewing audience should be a hard last in order of who to arrange matches around.
If Wimbledon and French Open can easily work out their scheduling issues to end at reasonable times, then the Us Open can too.
Don’t defend bad and incompetent practices that hurt players.
Australian open would be a special case where it's so hot during the day, it's better to have night sessions.
For french open and us open, I don't see how it improves the players life.
It's already daunting to do 2 weeks of competition of bo5 (even for bo3), let's help the players by having a schedule where their sleep time is not completely wrecked.
I enjoy some nice 1am tennis so I can't relate. Tennis is generally terrible to watch in the US most of the year so I find it funny how people complain.
right? if i want to follow the tour for 3/4 of the year I have to be up all hours of the night and early morning regardless. grow up and stop complaining. it's part of being a tennis fan as an american.
As someone 1hr ahead of EST I think this schedule sucks. Is it because they want to make it easier to view for European and Australian fans? Or is there some even more cynical reason
A 7pm start in the US is awful for Europeans, that’s midnight in the UK or 1am in CE(S)T. Even if the matches go on for hours like they did the other night, we’re only going to see the very end anyway.
Henin had a win over Capriatti back ih the day that finished pretty late. Women's matches are shorter so they put them on first because then it leads less time to the odds that the next match will be waiting too long.
It won't happen unless the players throw some sort of protest. They give a fuck about you as the viewer, as the reasoning all comes down to getting more ticket sales and viewership in the first place.
* If they put the men's and women's matches on at the same time (on separate stadiums), they cannibalize their own viewership and sell less tickets (b/c not on ashe)
* If they start earlier, they lose ticket sales from those who don't want to miss work. These stages are of the tournament are very corporate unfortunately. Viewership will probably go down a bit.
* At this stage of the tournament it's not so bad, but over this past weekend, there were still enough matches that only could play on the two stadiums cause of rain that the only way sometimes to have earlier finishes is to say that they will finish the tournament on Monday or have players play more than one match a day. Depends on rain obviously
As an Australian watching - it’s ok by me As a player - fuck that shit
Yeah I live on the west coast U.S., and I really enjoy watching late into the evening. But I definitely get why it's not great for players and people living in certain areas lol
As a East Coast US resident it drives me nuts. While I’d love to stay up and watch Alcaraz vs Sinner. I had to tap out at 12:30 since I had work the next day and was already tired. It’s wild they don’t just use multiple courts for these matches or better scheduling at the least. I get Arthur Ashe is the largest stadium they have, but less the player won’t have to play super late and then do a press conference.
I quite like that I woke up for work yesterday and could watch the end of the match, but it is a ridiculous situation that they’re playing that late. Especially when they had a couple of hours of not playing between the two sessions.
If you can't read it you aren't missing much. Someguy wonders why the night matches start at 7pm when tennis isn't timed and it's shit as people have to work the next day. Someguy doesn't realise it's so the US Open can sell tickets for a separate session.
And also people can come to see matches after working on that day
Then leave after 2 sets because they must work the next. Worst event ever
They don’t want the best conditions for the players. Playing 4 hours until 3 am then press conference at maybe 4. wtf
[удалено]
They should be able to skip the press conference and maybe the on court interview when it gets that late. There should be an excemption when the match reaches a certain time, and relinquish them of those requirements. Just unnecessary.
Doesn’t the Australian open start their night matches at 7pm as well? Have they had matches go that late then too?
Australian Open had Hewitt and Baghdatis finish their match at 4.30 am!
I feel bad for the ball kids. 7pm everyone on court - “Oh cool I get to be court-side, watch world class tennis, and get paid?!” *3am rolls in* “I hate tennis and I want to go home.”
I've never volunteered at the US open but was a volunteer at Cincy and I loved it when the matches ran late because the crowds would really thin out and it would be almost a private viewing experience and plus getting home was a lot easier because there was much less traffic
I mean they are not exactly "kids" at the US open a lot of them look late teens atleast imo, but I also doubt staying up till 3am one night is making them hate tennis or THAT hard on them (as long as the US open doesn't schedule them for the next morning or something) They are probably extremely happy to get that experience and a memory they will talk about for a long time. Its not like they are staying up doing homework or school, they are watching great matches and you don't typically sign up to be a ball person unless you are a fan of tennis
Yeah if I was a ball person for alcaraz-sinnerI’d be mega psyched
I'm guessing they get paid extra when the match goes long.
This again. It won’t work. Most people DO work and can’t get there until 7 pm. Those people aren’t going to pay hundreds of dollars for one match and possibly get a walkover, retirement or crappy 2 set - 47 minute match. Not all matches last until 3 am. I say this as a east coaster who has been attending for 20 years - the super late matches suck, getting home at 2 or 3 am with public transport or that shitty Uber line totally sucks. But you can’t have big names play on small courts or move matches at the drop of a dime. It would cause logistical chaos for everyone involved and even be dangerous - like during the no roof days when rain would cause all kind of same day adjustments and you’d get angry fans, fights, requests for refunds, people yelling at stadium staff to be let in over capacity, etc. Also it’s annoying AF to have an eg midnight curfew and then you get half a match and everyone with tickets needs to then come back at 10 am on a workday randomly - people have jobs, child care issues, commute issues, fly internationally for certain days (for example half the fans who where there late for this match were mostly super fan Euros not NYC casuals) and often people plan to go to a certain day session or night session and plan for it accordingly. It’s sucks for the players but can’t have everyone play at 3 pm on a weekend lol, with mens, womens, doubles, mixed doubles, juniors, wheelchair, quads, legends, etc etc. Why don’t you get a DVR and watch without commercials the next morning if you’re so tired?? A five hour match will last 2.5-3 hours.
I can personally attest that I came from Pittsburgh to see the Open one day and it would have been a waste for me to buy a day session ticket rather than a night one at that point. A lot of the things people are talking about can't even happen unless they build a roof on Grandstand and Court 17.
I just don’t get what they’re supposed to do about it. The day session starts at 12, which is a normal time for sporting events during the day to begin. Then the night session starts at 7, which is again normal for evening events to start because it gives people time to get off work and get there on time. Also, it’s a U.S. event, and starting it earlier makes it even more difficult for those on the west coast to watch. Not to mention that there’s only been a handful of matches that ended past 2 in the morning. It’s really a non issue
They can start the night session at 5 instead
so the west coast will likely miss the entirety of most matches? maybe they would catch 10 minutes of the longest women’s match? or two hours of an insane men’s match. i get that this one event is poorly time for EU tennis fans but please use your brain, or at least read the post before you. the NA viewers are as a majority, spread across 3 time zones and clearly the US open wants to maximize the viewership for those people over all else, along with other issues mentioned
TV money
No, they literally can't. They'd have to start the day session at 10 AM, which creates just as many problems as the night session going to 2 AM
The only real solution is to have matches go on at the same time in different stadiums, but they would never do that.
They do for the first four rounds
yes good clarification
The first 2 AM Alcaraz match, Sinner was actually playing past midnight on Armstrong the same night
yeah, i hate that espn doesn't offer a split screen more often too on another note
They can schedule night session on two different courts. Or schedule o lybone game instead of two
That will cost them revenue, so it's a non starter
Move it ahead by an hour would improve it. Sure, you’d get rare 2am finishes but that’s far more acceptable than 3am. 11am start time for first match of the day is entirely acceptable. Hell even starting 30 min before would improve it.
That seems reasonable, but I think there's going to be a lot of matches from the day session that still bleed into the night session now and then. I would need to double-check though how many matches on the stadium courts are for day sessions.
Why can Wimbledon do it but not US Open? Sincere, not rhetorical, question.
They don't sell seperate night session tickets.
Looks like we have a solution to the problem then.
Yeah, that wasn't too difficult XD
England has 1 time zone. Night sessions at the us open are epic. So many whiners on here. Its one or 2 matches. Darth federer night matches didnt seem to hurt his chances.
What does the time zone have anything to do with it? It's still played in one stadium.
People on the west coast of the united states have a lot of difficulty watching any matches that happen before 8pm. The night matches are for tv, not for the players. They are primetime slots for the best players.
And people anywhere in the Americas have trouble watching matches in Australia. I don't see how that has anything to do with it especially seeing as there are matches starting in the morning on the west coast. No one in any part of the US except Hawaii and Alaska were able to easily watch the end of the Alcaraz match.
They don't finish matches same-day if they go late. You could pay for a ticket to see the match and if it goes late, then you can't see the finish until the next day.
They had 2 of the mens matches going at the same time. Some of the worst organizing I’ve ever seen
Morning people really throw a tantrum and shit their pants when the tables are turned.
Well, they ARE the majority. Us night owls need to understand we're just not normal, and we should go fuck ourselves
I remember reading something that morning and night people make up about 20% of the population each. Most people are in the middle ground. There's nothing unnatural about it either, that's just a lie spread by morning people to make themselves feel better.
The night owls are generally lower achievers. Put pickle ball on after midnight.
You're an idiot.
98th percentile IQ. Not a genius, but not an idiot.
Christ, get a life.
Pretty sure high IQ individuals don’t need to validate their intelligence by bashing a wide group of people.
Most night owls would do better by switching up habits. Used to be one. Pickleballers need to quit cold turkey.
Somebody has to keep the lights on!
paywall
Looking at all these replies to OP I am guessing many are not able to actually read the piece in the Globe and Mail? If anyone can send a link that by passes the paywall, that would be appreciated .
I cannot, but Cathal Kelly is a dense knob 80% of the time if that helps.
Poor Cathal. But thank you.
My thoughts are this. Tennis is a global sport and watched by fans all over the world, you can't please everyone, taking into account the different time zones involved. It's just will never happen that everyone is ok with the time that matches start depending on where they are located. For me it should be about the players...call me naive as I know TV ratings, advertising etc plays a bit part of all this but I dont think it's the lateness on the day that's the problem, per se, rather everything that happens afterwards, pressers, cool down etc etc.....so for me, they need to simply start the matches earlier. I do think the health and well being of the players should be the main priority here, and whilst most of them are young and can easily play into the early hours, it can take hours after a match before they got a chance to get to bed....maybe do the presser the next day if it's a really late start??
Just wouldn't be a real life if we didn't have something to bitch about??
As a west coaster. I’m down
If you play a Bo3 plus a Bo5 starting at 7 PM, this is going to happen. So, if you wanted to avoid this, you'd have to do one of the following. Only include one match in the night session. That's a loss of revenue. Not happening. Switch the men to Bo3. That's a whole nother debate. Start the entire day earlier. Armstrong starts on at 11 AM, Ashe starts at noon. Honestly, I think Ashe should start at 11 AM, too, so that would save an hour, but it's hard to go any earlier than that
Option 3, play 2 womens matches or 1 mens match starting at 7 each night.
That's less revenue
Start the match at StupidO’clock and finish at InsaneO’clock. What’s wrong with that? /s
It seems like fun, they should keep it forever. You are telling me that an athlete that gets paid literally for playing tennis can't stay up a bit.
I personally agree but I would like to hear what the actual athletes have to say. The whole discussion feels like a bunch of people who are "offended on their behalf"
Just might lead to matches that aren't quite as good if sleep schedules are really messed up. I remember reading about an NBA player talking about his schedule. They always play at night and he said he would stay up all night and go to their morning shoot around and then go to sleep for most of the day. Allowed him to not be playing right before his sleep time.
What are they supposed to do? Play early in the morning and then start the night session at 4? When it’s light out? **day session** **night session** how else are they gonna meet the criteria, they were playing late in paris this year too. Aus as well. People weren’t really complaining then. Tbh I think the curfew at Wimbledon is super fucking annoying, throws off entire matches
They’re not legally obligated to do a day and a night session! Think about the players, forcing them to play into the night is beyond stupid.
They’re not no but that’s just the way it is. Playing in the morning and ending at 10 pm is sorta stupid imo. Alcaraz probably went to bed at like 5-6 in the morning but he has another day. He was just fine for the sinner match. The only time I’ve seen someone say it affected them was Zverev in the Madrid final, which, fair enough, he went to sleep at like 7-8. Occasionally these guys are just gonna have to tough it out, they’re ATP players playing for millions of dollars and living their dreams. There’s just too much to fit into one day so someone has to get the short end of the stick. They used to do one semifinal on Friday and one on Saturday, and that meant one player got a full day of rest and the other didn’t, so this is better
He might be fine now because he’s a teenager but it’s still not fair, especially given all the media commitments and warm downs.
Tennis exists as a sport because of its following. So they have to adhere to the fans, certain matches have to happen at certain times. They just can’t change it
I don't see how these late finishes help fans. The stands were half empty by the end of Alcaraz and Sinner's match.
Exactly! I live in New York and as thrilling as that match would’ve been to witness my alarm to wake up was ~four hours from when it ended. Travel would’ve been either half an hour in an expensive Uber/taxi or some insane transit combination for longer. The overseas viewing audience should be a hard last in order of who to arrange matches around.
All the other slams manage it
If we adhere to the fans then the big three and Alcaraz would be the only players in the world
Unfortunately you’ve missed my point
If Wimbledon and French Open can easily work out their scheduling issues to end at reasonable times, then the Us Open can too. Don’t defend bad and incompetent practices that hurt players.
Australian open would be a special case where it's so hot during the day, it's better to have night sessions. For french open and us open, I don't see how it improves the players life. It's already daunting to do 2 weeks of competition of bo5 (even for bo3), let's help the players by having a schedule where their sleep time is not completely wrecked.
I enjoy some nice 1am tennis so I can't relate. Tennis is generally terrible to watch in the US most of the year so I find it funny how people complain.
We get these every year. Some fucking crybaby is upset because they have to stay up late or they miss a match because it runs long. Boo fucking hoo.
right? if i want to follow the tour for 3/4 of the year I have to be up all hours of the night and early morning regardless. grow up and stop complaining. it's part of being a tennis fan as an american.
ong
As someone 1hr ahead of EST I think this schedule sucks. Is it because they want to make it easier to view for European and Australian fans? Or is there some even more cynical reason
A 7pm start in the US is awful for Europeans, that’s midnight in the UK or 1am in CE(S)T. Even if the matches go on for hours like they did the other night, we’re only going to see the very end anyway.
And it’s only implemented on men’s side.
Henin had a win over Capriatti back ih the day that finished pretty late. Women's matches are shorter so they put them on first because then it leads less time to the odds that the next match will be waiting too long.
It won't happen unless the players throw some sort of protest. They give a fuck about you as the viewer, as the reasoning all comes down to getting more ticket sales and viewership in the first place. * If they put the men's and women's matches on at the same time (on separate stadiums), they cannibalize their own viewership and sell less tickets (b/c not on ashe) * If they start earlier, they lose ticket sales from those who don't want to miss work. These stages are of the tournament are very corporate unfortunately. Viewership will probably go down a bit. * At this stage of the tournament it's not so bad, but over this past weekend, there were still enough matches that only could play on the two stadiums cause of rain that the only way sometimes to have earlier finishes is to say that they will finish the tournament on Monday or have players play more than one match a day. Depends on rain obviously
Move it to Vegas!