So the appeal is clear for those who manage the financial spreadsheets, but what about everybody else?
US Open organisers have not yet commented in the wake of the Williams-Kenin match, but have previously argued late scheduling is a benefit to fans.
“Without question late-night matches were heavily discussed and reviewed after the 2022 US Open”, tournament director Stacey Allaster said in 2023, after opting to maintain the late schedule.
“We looked at starting the evening session earlier, instead of 7pm start at 6pm, but it’s not really a possibility because it’s hard for New Yorkers to get here even at 7pm.
“We talked about [changing to] one match at night, but we felt that’s not fair to our fans. One of the realities we have in tennis is that we are not defined by a start and an end time. We can have a short match or we can have a five-hour match.”
And that lack of certainty is where the problems arise. Organisers might not think all matches will run long, but they definitely know it’s a possibility.
A five-set men’s match can easily run for over four or even five hours and a women’s match that goes the distance can comfortably pass the three-hour mark. Put those two matches back-to-back on Arthur Ashe with a short break in-between and suddenly whoever is playing second isn’t finishing until about 3am.
The reason Williams and Kenin started their match so late is that Novak Djokovic’s defeat by Mariano Navone took five sets and over four hours to complete.
By the time Williams and Kenin were finished, the crowd in the 23,933-capacity stadium was sparse.
