Australian Open’s Historic Move Results in a Failure as Tennis’ Biggest Ongoing Problem Continues to Haunt Players

The previous season’s Australian Open had a lot of issues regarding the timing of the night session matches, with many participants being forced to finish past 2 a.m. on the initial round days. It was 3 a.m. when Andy Murray was still there on the court, competing against Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round, as he finally concluded the match at 4:05 a.m. in Melbourne. To tackle the scheduling issues, the Grand Slam event has now made some major changes in this ongoing edition.

The 2024 Australian Open, which was started on Sunday this time, has a 3-day format (Sun-Tue) for round 1 matches. However, despite making some historic moves, the tournament has once again failed to solve the scheduling of the night session matches.

The Australian Open’s opening-round matches are still being played post-midnight

Renowned tennis correspondent Stuart Fraser recently shed light on the timing of the day-one matches that were concluded at 12:34 a.m. Even the Australian Open’s night session fixtures on day two were finished at 12:54 a.m. Notably, Fraser spoke candidly about how the tournament has failed to solve the scheduling issue, which was also a major problem in the 2023 edition.

He tweeted, “Play on day one finished at 12:34am. And the last remaining match on day two enters a fifth set at 12:54am. Sunday starts… that’ll do the trick 👍”

In the comments section, Fraser also issued a blunt response to a fan who asserted that “everyone is overly critical” about the night session matches getting stretched. The fan said, “Everyone is overly critical about the late finishes. They tried something and we are getting a 5 hour great match. Should it have finished at 8pm.”

It received a quick response from Fraser, who commented, “Alright for you pal sitting back watching this with your bowl of corn flakes in Miami/NYC 😂” As the players are still facing the same issue, the tournament director previously claimed that their ‘solution’ will minimize late finishes of the night matches.

Craig Tiley on the format of the opening round fixtures

In an official statement, the Australian Open announced that the competition will now be conducted across 15 days in order to alleviate the pressure on late-night match finishes. Emphasizing the major decision, the tournament director Craig Tiley asserted that the new format would solve the issue of late-night match finishes while still having a “fair and equitable schedule.”

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He said, “We’ve listened to feedback from the players and fans and are excited to deliver a solution to minimise late finishes while continuing to provide a fair and equitable schedule on the stadium courts.”

What do you think of the Australian Open’s opening-round matches still being played post-midnight in Melbourne Park? Let us know in the comments section.

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