Tennis players' all-nighters are becoming tiresome
Imagine playing tennis at 3:45 am. Now, imagine being a professional tennis player, forced to smack the ball around at that ungodly hour on the world’s most prestigious and competitive stage.
For Daniil Medvedev and Emil Russuvuori, that nightmarish notion turned into a sleepless reality last week at the Australian Open on a Thursday that rallied its way into Friday. After a heavy downpour and a series of matches that lasted longer than anticipated, Medvedev and Russuvuori began their second-round match at 11:15 pm.
Your eyes don’t deceive you, and it’s not a typo. That’s right, 11:15 pm.
We’re not talking about a best-of-three set tilt, either. It’s the Australian Open, one of four majors that has men facing a battle of attrition in best-of-five-set contests.
Insomniacs rejoice.
As with many grand slam matches, this one turned into a back-and-forth five-setter. Medvedev erased a two-set deficit and prevailed in a four-hour-and-23-minute marathon.
If you’re wondering, that’s an hour longer than the 1997 classic Titanic, a feature film that seems lengthier than how long it took for the previously perceived unsinkable boat to submerge fully.
No other athletes are subjected to such gratuitous exploitation. As if not already torturous enough, the exhausted athletes didn’t finish until 3:45 am in front of about as many spectators that stayed until the bitter end of the Cowboys’ humiliating wild-card loss.
The 3:45 am finish wasn’t even the latest historically, with two Australian Open matches flirting even more closely with seeing sunrise.
The 2023 second-round match between Andy Murray and Thanasi Kokkinakis ended at a ghastly 4:05 am, while the 2008 third-round contest between Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis takes the ignominious title of the latest finish ever. That contest ended at 4:34 am.
Still required to answer arbitrary post-match questions, Medvedev put it best after the late-night, early-morning victory.
“Honestly guys, I would not be here,” the Russian told the crowd afterwards. “Thanks for staying. That was tough, tough, tough. If I came as a tennis fan, at 1 am, I would have been like: ‘OK, let’s go home and catch the end of the match on the TV.’ I guess, thanks, guys. You are strong. Strong!”
The US Open, also renowned for its late nightcap affairs, finishes substantially earlier than its down-under counterparts. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner played until 2:50 am at Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2023, the latest finish in US Open history.
Why are tennis players asked to be nocturnal?
I first thought the oft-searing Melbourne heat might be related to players being forced to pull all-nighters under the beaming lights of Rod Laver Arena.
But that’s not the case, not in the least.
It doesn’t take Inspector Clouseau to figure out the driving force behind the obscenely late start times.
While there are various underlying reasons, the overarching one is money. Night sessions have started later for some time so they can be aired on primetime TV.
Governing bodies also increase concession revenue by offering separate tickets for day and night sessions. Playing at times more suitable for the latter stages of a slumber party isn’t sitting well with a growing share of competitors. Many players on tour are outspoken opponents of the current untenable, dogmatic, and potentially injurious status quo.
Here’s what women’s world No. 1 Iga Swiatek said last year about the topic:
“For sure, it’s not healthy to play at that hour, and it’s something we should totally work on because we’re going to have more and more players that are burned out and having physical problems,” she says. “Because even in Rome I got injured. I don’t know for sure, like the whole intensity that added up to that. But playing at these hours isn’t healthy for sure.”
Well said, Iga.
Is anything being done to get rid of late-night matches?
Like many things in tennis, it’s a sordid, yes-and-no answer.
Sinner pulled out of a recent Paris Masters event after winning a match that started at 12:30 am and finished at the stroke of 3 am.
It was a threshold moment for the case against such depraved start times; the Italian’s withdrawal was another act of defiance, adding to an ever-growing list of players speaking out against the tennis establishment.
Here’s what Murray said in the wake of his 4:05 am finish in last year’s Australian Open.
“It’s a very obvious thing that needs to change,” Andy Murray said last week of the late-night starts and finishes and the tour rule changes. “From a player’s perspective, it’ll definitely help with recovery for the following day’s matches and things like that. I certainly think for the fans and the tournament, it just probably looks a wee bit more professional if you’re not finishing at three or four in the morning.”
The ATP and WTA have since acquiesced, prohibiting matches starting after 11 pm from next year.
Matches scheduled for a court still being used after 10.30 pm will be moved to another court. Both tours have told tournament organizers they want night sessions to begin at 6.30 pm rather than 7 or 7.30 pm, with up to two matches on the night schedule.
While promising developments, the four majors don’t abide by WTA and ATP rules. Like outlaws in the Wild West, the Australia Open, the US Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon play by their own rules.
Suffice it to say, the US Open and Australian Open are not doing away with wee-hour start times any time soon.
That’s about as unsurprising as seeing the Cowboys lay an egg in the postseason.
So, for the foreseeable future, in September and January, exhausted and sleep-deprived professional tennis players will continue to push their bodies and minds to the limit to entertain a few hundred onlookers through dawn.