Tennis
Coco Gauff says late finishes for tennis matches are ‘not healthy’ for players
Coco Gauff believes 3 a.m. finishes for tennis matches is “not healthy” and thinks some changes could be made to tournament scheduling to avoid late endings.
It was a quick fourth round of the French Open for Gauff, defeating Elisabetta Cocciaretto in women’s singles in an hour to advance to the quarterfinals. However, some weren’t as fortunate to have quick matches. On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic’s third-round match Sunday against Lorenzo Musetti lasted four hours and 29 minutes. Because of rain delays and adjustments to the schedule, the match started just after 10:30 p.m. local time and didn’t end until after 3 a.m.
Late finishes are common in tennis, especially in major championships, but it’s not something Gauff thinks is good for the sport.
“I feel like a lot of times people think you’re done, but really, 3 a.m., then you have press and then you have to shower, eat, and then a lot of times people do treatments. So that’s probably not going to bed until 5 a.m. at the earliest, maybe 6 a.m., and even 7 a.m,” Gauff said.
“I definitely think it’s not healthy. It may be not fair for those who have to play late because it does ruin your schedule. I’ve been lucky I haven’t been put in a super-late finish yet.”
Gauff said possible solutions to avoid late finishes is making a rule that matches can’t start after a certain time. Or, if a match is taking too long, being able to move it to another court. But she acknowledged it’s a “complicated thing” because people pay tickets to see certain matches in certain arenas.
“I definitely think for the health and safety of the players, it would be in the sport’s best interest, I think, to try to avoid those matches finishing – or starting – after a certain time. Obviously, you can’t control when they finish,” Gauff added.
The 2023 U.S. Open winner added there are some other things that could be changed to benefit players, and tournament organizers “should listen to the players more,” yet said she is privileged and she knows there are people that work jobs in far worse conditions.
Other tennis stars comment on late finishes
Gauff wasn’t the only person to say 3 a.m. finishes aren’t ideal. Carlos Alcaraz said the late finishes are “really difficult to recover” from.
“Everything is better if you finish early. The night session is a real thing, so we can’t change it. We have to adapt ourselves as much as, or as better as, we can to the matches,” he said.
World No. 1 player Iga Swiatek added at the end of the day, players have to accept whatever and whenever they are scheduled to start late. However, “it’s not easy to play” that late and “it’s not like we’re going to fall asleep one hour after the match.”
“It’s not like the work ends with the match point,” she said. “I was always one of the players that said that we should start a little bit earlier. Also, I don’t know if the fans are watching these matches if they have to go to work next day or something when the matches are finishing at 2 or 3 a.m. It’s not up to us. We need to accept anything that is going to come to us.”
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