SUMMARY
- The Australian Open has been a grand spectacle, but its old problems have persisted.
- The organizers came under fire from fans for their horrible scheduling.
The Australian Open has been scintillating so far. As the first Grand Slam of the year, players always put their best foot forward, and this year is no exception. It has had its fair share of problems too, and much of it can be traced back to the match schedules. The tournament took measures to combat these problems, but they have not been very effective, leaving the fans and players disgruntled.
This year, the marquee event event began on a Sunday, for the first time in the tournament history. The main reason behind it was so that matches would not go on till the wee hours of the morning. Unfortunately, the tournament organizers could not have anticipated how long some of the matches would go on.
Novak Djokovic took on Taylor Fritz in the afternoon session, which turned out to be a marathon match in the heat. Fans who had bought tickets for the night session matches on Tuesday night were left frustrated. They had to wait at least two hours before they could take their seats at the Rod Laver Arena.
The fans did not hold back their criticism. “They’re useless. After all these years they should have got it right. It’s been long enough to figure out how to do scheduling,” said a fed-up fan.
Aryna Sabalenka’s match against Barbora Krejcikova was set to begin at 7.15 p.m. However, they did not start playing until 9 p.m. Moreover, the Australian Open organizers had requested that the women move to the Margaret Court Arena, but they refused.
Wow. Barbara Schett reports they actually asked the women if they wanted to move to Margaret Court Arena earlier and they obviously said no.
Let’s see if Sinner-Rublev end up playing on Margaret Court Arena if the woman go too long… https://t.co/34mkKaZwSR
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) January 23, 2024
The matches usually begin at 11 a.m. every day, but on Tuesday, the matches did not start until 1 p.m. It started a cascade that even the players ended up criticizing.
Players also slammed the Australian Open organizers
Sabalenka continued her ruthless decimation of her opponents when she took to the courts on Tuesday. Thankfully, she wrapped up her match 6-2, 6-3, in 71 minutes. Following the match, Sabalenka revealed that if Djokovic and Taylor’s match had gone to five sets, they would have moved.
This meant that the match between Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev began at 10.20 p.m. Luckily, Jannik won the match in straight sets. It avoided a late-night finish, unlike Daniil Medvedev’s match against Emil Ruusuvuori, which ended around 4 a.m.
Djokovic addressed this issue during the press conference. “There are different ways to address this. Maybe scheduling less matches on the centre court,” said the defending champion (via News.com.au).
Taylor Fritz also spoke up about this issue following his match. “It just screws up your whole clock. I pray for those guys,” he said, about Sinner and Rublev.
The Australian Open organizers have once again been called out for their lack of foresight. With increasing calls for better scheduling, perhaps the other Grand Slams can do a better job.