US Open won’t change evening matches schedule

US Open organizers are discussing the issue with late matches in the tournament, but director Stacey Allaster said the Grand Slam had no plans to change its schedule.

The evening session at Flushing Meadows starts at 7pm, meaning matches can continue into the early hours of the next day.

Last year, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz defeated Jannick Siner in a five-set quarterfinal that lasted more than five hours and ended at 2:50 a.m., the latest finish in US Open history.

“There is no doubt that late matches are widely discussed after the 2022 US Open,” Allaster told reporters.

“We considered the possibility of evening session matches starting an hour earlier, but that’s not really possible because it’s difficult for New Yorkers to get to the courts even at 7 in the evening. We also talked about an evening match, but we felt it wasn’t fair to the fans,” she added.

Too many late nights in #tennis

But no change to the #usopen schedule this year

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This from tournament director Stacey Allaster: pic.twitter.com/9PXlAvvU8D

— Christopher Clarey 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 (@christophclarey) August 18, 2023

Last week, world number one Iga Šviontek called for a better tournament program for the sake of tennis players’ health.

“One of the realities of tennis is that we don’t have a definite beginning and end. We may have a short match and we may have a five-hour match. We are currently sticking to the two-match plan in the evening session, but we will continue to discuss the subject,” Stacey Allaster further stated.

The US Open will be held from August 28 to September 10.