Tennis fans are once again calling for a curfew at all grand slams after the US Open quarter-final between Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton started after 11pm on Tuesday night. There were four quarter-finals on the schedule on Tuesday – two men’s and two women’s matches.
All four were scheduled on centre court at Arthur Ashe Stadium, which caused havoc for Alcaraz and Shelton when the three preceding matches all went the distance. Aryna Sabalenka was taken to three sets by Linda Noskova, before Frances Tiafoe came back from two sets down to beat Alex Michelsen in five.
Carlos Alcaraz didn’t walk on court until after 11pm following the Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro match. Image: Getty
Jessica Pegula then beat Emma Navarro in three sets as well, and none of the matches included any quick sets. It meant the Alcaraz and Shelton match kept getting pushed further and further back, and the players didn’t get on court until after 11pm in New York.
It’ll be a serious disadvantage for the winner as their opponent Tiafoe will get at last five hours extra to recover. Whoever prevails in the Alcaraz and Shelton match will walk off court in the early hours of Wednesday morning and then have to prepare for a semi-final.
The situation has renewed calls for a curfew to be imposed, while some have also questioned why the quarters aren’t played at the same time on Louis Armstrong Stadium. Currently, Wimbledon is the only one of the four majors with a late-night curfew.
Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz didn’t get underway until close to midnight. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Calls for curfew at all grand slams
Speaking last week, Aussie player Daria Kasatkina pointed out that the WTA tour has an 11pm curfew in which matches can’t start any later than that. “I don’t think there should be a match starting (at) midnight. Not even 11pm, to be honest,” Kasatkina said.
“That’s already crazy, not just for the tennis players, also for the fans, for you guys (media). Everyone who is involved in this is getting affected by this, and that’s crazy.
“They say they’re doing this for the viewers, but the viewers just turned off the TV and went to sleep and all of us, we have to like figure out our schedules and stuff. I don’t understand. Probably from the business perspective, it’s working very, very good and that’s why they’re doing this. Obviously for us, it’s not the best bet.”
In 2022, Alcaraz and Sinner played until 3am at the US Open. The latest-finishing match in grand slam history is Lleyton Hewitt’s epic fourth-round victory over Marcos Baghdatis at the 2008 Australian Open, which ended at 4.34am.
On Tuesday night, fans blasted the ‘insane’ and ‘ridiculous’ situation in which Alcaraz and Shelton started after 11pm. One pundit wrote: “Shelton/Alcaraz starting at 11pm is just not fair to players, fans and anyone else who works the event.”