Tennis: The Australian Open takes its example from Roland-Garros and will start on a Sunday!
Published on October 4, 2023 at 11:50 a.m.
Holder of a Master’s degree in sports journalism, I fell in love with tennis since childhood and have always loved reading the great stories of this sport. Today, I want to tell them about them, take full advantage of my passion and be as close as possible to the aces of the circuit.
While the 2023 season is not yet over, we are starting to have information for next year. And in the list of new developments, the Australian Open is at the top with big news: the first Grand Slam of the year will now be spread over 15 days and no longer 14, in the same way as the we know about Roland-Garros. Originally: a complaint from players not to finish matches too late.
This will be the big novelty of the Australian Grand Slam from 2024: the start will take place on a Sunday. It will therefore be around fifteen more for tennis fans and for organizers, perhaps a way of being a little more peaceful since the complaints have been numerous, including in 2023.
An extended fifteen
Even if we suspect that money is not a foreign reason for this decision, theAustralian Open therefore becomes the second Grand Slam to extend over 15 days. Since a long time, Roland-Garros did the same thing, which allows the party to start a little earlier and the tournament to start during part of the weekend for the first rounds. And this change seems very interesting for the organization of the tournament.
More scattered first rounds
This was one of the problemsAustralian Open as in many other tournaments: the programming is dense and sometimes, players can finish their match very late at night. This was the case for Andy Murray in 2023 who finished his second round match at 4:05 a.m. after a huge fight. With this extra day, the organizers have more room to allow everyone to play their first rounds in the best possible conditions. “We have listened to feedback from players and fans and are pleased to announce a solution to reduce late finishes of matches. The additional day will make it possible to achieve this goal and offer better programming to fans and players,” said Craig Tileythe tournament director.
No more delays for the night session
A l’Australian Openthe Rod Laver Arena, the main court, offered a night session every day after already 3 matches during the day session. Sometimes these were slightly off due to the length of the matches, which caused a lot of problems. From now on, only two matches will take place during the day and always two in the night session.
2023-10-04 09:50:00
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