Aus Open: Why you should expect more late finishes at Melbourne Park

Fans don’t like it and the players hate it, but late night – or early morning – finishes at the Australian Open are a commercial reality, reports CALLUM DICK.

Russia's Daniil Medvedev signs autographs above the clock as he leaves the court after victory against Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori in their men's singles match on day five of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne early on January 19, 2024. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE / AFP) / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE --

Novak Djokovic says changing the grand slam daily schedule to a single continuous session would benefit players and help avoid early morning finishes but he does not expect tournament organisers to move away from the current day-night format “because that is how they sell their tickets”.

The scheduling debate was once again put on the agenda when world No. 3 Daniil Medvedev and Emil Ruusuvuori played to 3.39am on Friday morning after their scheduled second-up match on Rod Laver Arena was pushed back beyond 11pm due to a lengthy third set tie-breaker between Elena Rybakina and Anna Blinkova.

After the match Medvedev joked that if he were a fan he would not have stayed to watch his comeback victory and revealed the early morning finish would make recovering for the next round much more difficult.

Russia's Daniil Medvedev signs autographs above the clock as he leaves the court after victory against Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori in their men's singles match on day five of the Australian Open. Picture: AFP

Djokovic weighed into the debate after his straight-sets victory over Tomas Etcheverry on Friday night, revealing what he believed to be a plausible solution – though conceded he did not expect it to happen.

“The daily schedule and the time of the matches … is a problem obviously when you have men playing best-of-five (sets), as it did last night with day matches (going to) five sets,” the world No. 1 said.

“Yeah it’s not an ideal situation to be in that, for sure. I don’t know, I mean, I don’t see grand slams on main courts, particularly on centre court, changing the format of having day matches and night matches, because that’s how they sell their tickets. That’s how they commercialise. That’s how they promote.”

Under the current format, the ticketed venues – Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and John Cain Arena – are split into day and night sessions, with a minimum of two matches in each.

Patrons can buy tickets to either the day or night sessions, but must purchase multiple tickets to attend both.

The night session does not begin before 7pm – prime time for a television audience. It can often leave courts unused for multiple hours during the day, if the day session matches wrap up quickly.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic doesn’t expect a change to the scheduling at the Australian Open. Picture: AFP

On Sunday night – opening night – reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka did not begin her match until almost midnight after Djokovic and Dino Prizmic played for more than four hours.

That despite Rod Laver Arena going untouched for two hours during the day.

Last year Thanasi Kokkinakis and Andy Murray played beyond 4am in their five-set second-round clash on Margaret Court Arena, which sparked debate over late starts and early morning finishes.

The WTA and ATP will this year trial an 11pm curfew at some Tour-level tournaments, however the Australian Open is not bound by those rules.

Calls to change the format again fell on deaf ears this year, with tournament organisers instead moving to add an extra day to the schedule and introduce a cap of five matches per-court, per-day.

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said in October the changes would “minimise late finishes while continuing to provide a fair and equitable schedule on the stadium courts”.

However, the consensus among players and fans is that not enough has been done.

Djokovic agreed, though said it was unlikely any changes would be made.

“I just don’t see it being one session for the entire day. That would help the players, definitely, because then maybe we would have an extra few hours in some days if it starts at 11 or 12, depending on how many matches are scheduled,” said Djokovic.

“I guess the other option is scheduling one less match on the centre court, as well. I’m sure that grand slams are taking a lot of different possibilities into the equation in consideration.”