The appeal of late scheduling may be clear to those managing the financial spreadsheets, but the impact on everyone else is harder to ignore.
US Open organisers have not yet commented following the Williams-Kenin match. However, they have previously argued that late-night scheduling benefits 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.”
Why late US Open matches create scheduling problems
That uncertainty is where the problems arise. Organisers may not expect every match to run long, but they know extended matches are always possible.
A five-set men’s match can easily last more than four or even five hours, while a women’s match that goes the distance can comfortably exceed three hours. When those matches are played back-to-back on Arthur Ashe Stadium with only a short break between them, the second player may not finish until around 3am.
Williams and Kenin began their match so late because Novak Djokovic’s defeat by Mariano Navone went to five sets and lasted more than four hours.
By the time Williams and Kenin finished, the crowd inside the 23,933-capacity stadium had become sparse.
