AIt was another chaotic rainy day at Roland Garros on Saturday afternoon and things were taking a left turn. With certain third-round matches coming to an end, Roland Garros organizers have chosen to move the unfinished match between Zizou Bergers and Grigor Dimitrov to the Stade Philippe Chatrier before the No. Djokovic’s night match was scheduled to start at 8:15 p.m. Unless every match is a straight set, chaos will obviously ensue.
Suffice it to say, these games didn’t end well. Alexander Zverev’s on-court match against Tallon Griekspoor immediately descended into a dramatic five-set slugfest. Burgess then forced a fourth set. Djokovic and Lorenzo Musetti entered the court at around 10:30 p.m., with Djokovic ending his remarkable five-set comeback victory at 3:07 a.m., the latest in French Open history .
No other famous sport in the world has athletes competing in the wee hours of the morning, but tennis has made it the norm. In recent years, Andy Murray’s Australian Open last year ended at 4.05am at the latest, and the 2022 Mexico Open ended at 4.55am at the latest.
“I think it’s really unhealthy,” said Ons Jabeur, ranked No. 9 in the world. “I hope Novak can recover well for the next game. But, yes, we are trying to push for a better schedule. But, you know, when you play long games, sometimes you don’t I know. Obviously, it’s also more difficult for the main competition. I feel like 8.15 is really too late to start the competition.
At about 1 a.m., Casper Ruud finished his four-set match against Tomás Martín Etcheverry and then smiled at Susan Lundgren in the courtroom. Suzanne-Lenglen: “I love tennis and I love Roland Garros,” he said. “But I’m not sure I like playing at 1 a.m.” When Djokovic’s game ended, Rudd was still going about his postgame routine and talking about it on X. For players, the work doesn’t stop after they leave the field.
“I think a lot of times people think you’re done, but really, it’s 3 o’clock in the morning and then you have the news, and then you have to shower, eat, and then a lot of times people have therapy so maybe they don’t go to bed until 3 o’clock in the morning Sleep. “I definitely don’t think it’s healthy. It might not be fair to those who have to play late as it can really mess up your schedule.
While Roland Garros has been criticized in the past for ending early without floodlights, the night at Roland Garros has now taken to a completely different extreme since the roof of the Stade Philippe-Chatrier was inaugurated in 2021. In some ways, it’s even worse.
With the roof of the Stade Philippe-Chatrier roof and floodlights around the venue inaugurated, Roland Garros has launched its controversial night tournament, selling the rights to one prime-time match a day to Prime Video for a hefty fee , and the event is also looking for new events. Previously, the event was exclusively broadcast by free-to-air state broadcaster France Télévisions.
Although the night matches are billed as the featured match of each day – and the French Tennis Federation has been heavily criticized for not scheduling a single women’s match in the night tournament so far this year – players often seem to be vying to avoid receiving the graveyard slot. Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek have both requested early play multiple times. Carlos Alcaraz also made it clear that he disapproved of night meetings.
“It’s really hard to recover when you go to bed so late,” he said. “For me it’s better to finish at 6pm and have dinner in a restaurant, very very nice, a nice restaurant with good food. So if you finish early everything will be better.
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These criticisms simply do not take into account the actual situation. It was a warm night at the Australian and US Open tennis tournaments. However, the cold weather in Paris made the clay courts even slower, with the ball barely able to move in the cold air. For much of Saturday’s game, Djokovic struggled to break through Musetti’s excellent defense in quicksand-like conditions.
These nighttime workouts are also extremely difficult for everyone else involved in the sport. Fans shouldn’t make promises like this just for entertainment. Caddies (many of whom are minors) and linemen should be able to return home at an acceptable time. People leaving the scene after midnight were left with few transportation options.
What is clear is that the tournament’s scheduling committee needs to be more flexible and more willing to change games, impose clear restrictions on game start times and change start times. The ATP and WTA Tours have attempted to address this issue at their own non-Grand Slam tournaments this year, initiating new match-scheduling rules that include (three-set) matches not being allowed to start after 11 p.m., and 10:30 p.m. The match will need to be moved to another court. How effective they will be remains to be seen.
Such is the unpredictability of professional tennis that after constant delays and an early morning finish, Sunday’s three matches were shorter than Djokovic’s solitary match. By 4:31 p.m., scheduled day classes were completed.
