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."
Here are
some other reactions from the fans: