The first grand final of Roland Garros 2022, the quarterfinal match between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, They have disturbed the offices of the organization of the tournament before confirming that the game will be played on the last night day of this Tuesday, not before 8:45 p.m.
Nadal has already expressed his disagreement with having to play a game at night again and Carlos Alcaraz commented on the possibility that he would do it again for the third time, in his quarterfinal against Alexander Zverevwhich would seem “unfair”.
The 13-time champion of Roland Garros did not want to play in conditions that do not favor his game at all and that, moreover, will be one more inconvenience for his complicated physical moment and his battered foot. “I know Roland Garros by day, that’s how I’ve played the tournament almost always. I wouldn’t like to play the last game at night,” he stressed to warn and put pressure on the organization. Djokovic He was also not a big fan of playing at night, at least publicly. But the Serbian tennis player knows that if he plays under the spotlight of Philippe Chatrier, his options will also be better against Nadal.
Battle between televisions
Due to the wishes of the players not to play in different track conditions and weather from day to night – the game of alcaraz contra Khachanov was played at a temperature of 10 degrees centigrade-, the battle for the television broadcasts was added to offer the stellar duel between Djokovic y Nadal.
The exclusive rights to the night shift at Roland Garros have been held since 2019 Amazon Prime that pays 15 million euros annual. For your part France TVwhich has the rights to broadcast the tournament for the country and offers it openly on its channels, argued to get the match between Nadal y Djokovic The desire to offer the French audience the best matches of the tournament was scheduled for the daytime on Tuesday.
The audiences of up to 3.5 million viewers in some of the games in this edition were the argument defended by public television, which played with the visibility that this also means for the sponsors of Roland Garros. NBC, which has the rights for the United States of the Parisian Grand Slam, also insisted that the match, due to the time difference, be played at night.
In the end, it was the tournament that made the decision, possibly the most important of Amelie Mauresmo, the former player and director of the tournament since this year. In the final decision, the fact that Amazon has promised to open the game in France has weighed heavily.
