US Open: clock madness - the late bird still has to go to the press conference
Those responsible in tennis should probably reconsider the match schedule for the night sessions at Grand Slam tournaments.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit: Sep 06, 2022, 05:40 pm
It is 2:24 in the morning at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows when Carlos Alcaraz ends his almost four-hour fight against Marin Cilic in the round of 16 of the US Open 6:4, 3:6, 6:4, 4: 6 and 6:3 can successfully complete. The US tennis fan, who doesn't have to go to work on Tuesday or has to go to work late, has spent an exciting sports evening in the world's largest tennis stadium, the European friend of the yellow felt ball is just painting his second breakfast bread for match point.
Yes, tennis also lives from these crazy and epochal stories - who does not remember, for example, the legendary match between Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis at the Australian Open in 2008, when the two opponents only got their things at 4:34 a.m. after work was done packed. An unforgettable experience for those who can witness such an emotional battle and are right in the middle of it when two sports greats turn night into day.
Good night at 6 a.m
The night sessions in New York traditionally come in a double pack of a women's and a men's meeting. A process that usually works out in moderate match lengths. However, if two long games follow one another, not only the schedule but also the biorhythms of the protagonists, those responsible for the tournament and the media people are thrown upside down.
So the questions then arise as to how useful a press conference at 3:00 a.m. can still be, whether the general practitioner considers an evening menu for the athletes at around 4:00 a.m. to be justifiable and whether bed rest at around 6: 00 o'clock in the morning can still guarantee sufficient sleep when the next day it's "business as usual" for everyone involved.
Not many sports come to mind spontaneously - except perhaps the 24-hour race at Le Mans - where so little consideration is given to the natural needs of the athletes, officials and the like. So the question should be allowed: Is all this still up-to-date - in the truest sense of the word?
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