Night epics a worry
… despite Open changes
Brutal early-morning finishes such as last year’s Andy Murray-Thanasi Kokkinakis “farce” will not be entirely preventable at the Australian Open despite significant changes to tour rules.
New scheduling requirements have been introduced by the WTA and ATP – effective immediately – in an attempt to cut down on late finishes to night sessions.
But tournament organisers at Melbourne Park, who are not bound by the new regulations, said little could be done to prevent extremely late finishes such as the Murray-Kokkinakis clash that finally ended at 4.05am.
The new rules, which will force night sessions to begin by 7.30pm and prevent matches from going on court after 11pm, will be trialled throughout 2024 at tournaments before being reviewed at the end of the year.
Day sessions will also be limited to three matches. However, the Australian Open had already moved ahead of the changes with its own bid to crack down on late finishes by adding an extra day to the fixture so now there will now be two matches during the day session rather than three.
It came after Scotland’s Murray called his victory against the Aussie last January a “farce”, saying his match had begun too late at 10pm.
“If my child was a ball kid for a tournament and they’re coming home at five in the morning, as a parent I’m snapping at that,” he said.
Extreme heat or rain could compress the Australian Open schedule this year, but “waivers” will be considered by the WTA and ATP to hold matches at later times, the organisations said in a statement.
“The number of late match finishes (defined as matches finishing after midnight) has risen considerably in recent years, negatively impacting players and fans,” it read.
“This is tied to an increase in average match length on tour.”
Open sources were confident cutting back to two day matches would limit most of the threat of night sessions running late, as the third match spilling over into the night session had been responsible for most of the late finishes in previous years.
Aussie Lleyton Hewitt and Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis played until 4.33am in their third-round match in 2008 after beginning at 11.47pm due to a marathon daytime clash.