The duel was won by Carlos Alcaraz against the Italian Jannik Sinner after the battle that ended at 2:50 in the morning in New York, he is one of the best in the history of the US Open, but at the same time a known problem became extreme at Flushing Meadows, with the game schedule usually ending in the middle of the night and that conditions the players and the public.
If the show on the field was one of the best in the history of tennis, with two players representing the present and the future of this sport, In the United States, the question is becoming more and more frequent about whether the organization of the tournament should reconsider the format of the evening program to avoid the final games ending in the wee hours of the morning and in a semi-empty stadium.
the russian Daniel Medvedevwho arrived at Flushing Meadows as world number one, repeatedly acknowledged that “rhythm is hard to find” when you have to face a game after 22.
Last Monday, Alcaraz finished his round of 16 match against Croatian Marin Cilic around 1:45 local time. This Wednesday, his rivalry with Sinner ended in 2.50, after five hours and fifteen minutes on the track.
The Flushing Meadows night program begins at 7:00 pm local time and two games are expected, one for the women’s circuit and one for the men’s.. Because these are best-of-five-set matches in the men’s tournament, matches often exceed three hours in length and consistently end after midnight.
This is a program that aims to take advantage of prime time television in the United States, starting at 7:00 pm, but in many cases this type of planning negatively affects at least one of the two meetings.
This is a problem that directly affects the players. It should be noted that, after the match, tennis players must appear in a press conference, in addition to performing a series of recovery exercises, which require at least another hour.
But it also affects the product in general. It is common to see the Arthur Ashe track empty in different sectors when midnight approaches, particularly on weekdays like this Wednesday.
So, Alcaraz-Sinner started in a packed stadium with more than 23,000 fans and he finished in 2:50 less than half that number.
From the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center, located in Queens, it takes more than 45 minutes to get to Manhattan there was public transport and many spectators gave up the show to avoid going home late.
Although the tournament set several records for viewers on the ‘ESPN’ network, especially for the matches of American Serena Williams in the first week and in prime time, the fact that other top level matches are completed late which hinders the spread of the product.
The program started again this Thursday in 19 localesincluding the two women’s semifinals, between Polish Iga Swiatek and Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and between French Caroline García and Tunisian Ons Jabeur.
Yes, the men’s semifinals, contested in the best of five sets, They start at 15 and 19 local this Friday (21 and 01 Spanish peninsular time).
The finals will be played on Saturday and Sunday starting with 16 locals (22 in Spain).
Source: La Verdad
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
