US Open chief Craig Tiley has told Sky Sports Tennis he plans on keeping two matches during the day and two at night at Flushing Meadows in 2027. Tiley, who took the helm as new CEO of USTA earlier this year after leading Tennis Australia since 2013, says he has no plans for any changes to the schedule. It comes after Ben Shelton's five-set thriller against Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals ended at 3:33am local time on Wednesday, leaving few people awake to see the near five-hour marathon reach its finale on one of the sport's biggest stages. 1.
Zverev bt Brooksby Acapulco 2022 - 4:54am 2. Hewitt bt Baghdatis Australian Open 2008 - 4:34am 3. Murray bt Kokkinakis Australian Open 2023 - 4:05am 4.
Medvedev bt Ruusuvuori Australian Open 2024 - 3:39am 5. Seppi bt Reynolds Australian Open 2007 - 3:34am 6. Shelton bt Alcaraz US Open 2026 - 3:33am Players have long loved the electricity of playing night matches under the lights in the nation's biggest city.
But the tournament had already set a record with three post-2am finishes over the first six days, as well as having two other matches go past 1am. The issue has gained added resonance amid a broader push by top players for increased prize money and reforms on welfare and working conditions, with late finishes emerging as a flashpoint in the debate over life on the tour. Like the US Open, the Australian Open has faced criticism for notoriously late finishes but the other two Grand Slams have imposed checks, with Wimbledon halting play under an 11pm local curfew and the French Open limiting night sessions to one match.
Yet a solution such as starting evening sessions earlier than 7pm is complicated by the argument that tennis-mad New Yorkers need time to get to Flushing Meadows after work and organisers having to manage day-and night-session crowds. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Tiley said: "I hear from a lot of people that it finishes too late and then I say, okay, and your suggestion is? "You can't control the length of the match.
What's really interesting is in the last 10 years the amount of tennis from when you hit a point to when a point stops has been about the same. "But the length of the matches on the men's side has increased by an average of about 25 minutes. That's because we now have the shot clock so everyone is taking their time, and we have the towels here which takes a bit more time and so the whole length of it is a bit longer.
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