Late Nights In Paris

Night tennis has been a popular feature of the Australian and US Opens for years.  The Australian Open likes it so much that both finals are at night (although, I think the Melbourne summer heat is also a factor there), and three of the four US Open semifinals are night matches.  It was never even a thought at Roland Garros until a few years ago.  They didn't even have lights on the courts until 2020!  Since then, though, they've played night matches at the French Open, which has become quite the point of contention during this year's tournament.

With night matches comes the possibility of late-night finishes.  We've seen plenty of matches at the Australian and US Opens that end well after 2:00 in the morning (Andy Murray had a match that didn't finish until 4:00 at the Australian last year).  In Australia, they got so concerned about late finishes that they added an extra day to the tournament this year (which didn't actually do anything since they were still starting the night sessions at the same time).

Players have been critical of the late-night finishes and how much it screws them up for the rest of the tournament.  After the match, they still need to do their press conference and other post-match obligations, as well as whatever cooldown or treatment they need.  And, of course, they need to eat something!  At best, they're not getting to bed until 6 or 7 AM...then have a quick turnaround before their next match (fortunately, at Grand Slams, they get a day off in between).

That criticism has been especially pronounced at this year's French Open, where the late-night finishes have become a regular occurrence...and have definitely had an impact on the tournament!  Novak Djokovic had to withdraw because of a knee injury that he aggravated during his fourth-round match, a five-setter that lasted nearly four hours on Monday afternoon that started only about 36 hours after his third-round match finished in the wee hours of Sunday morning Paris time.

Djokovic and Alexander Zverev were alternating the night match during the first week.  They've both gone five in each of the last two rounds.  Men's clay court matches aren't exactly quick to begin with, so, you're looking at a four-hour match if it goes five.  That, obviously, pushes everything else back.  And, it should be noted, that Djokovic's match on Saturday night was scheduled for 8:15, but they didn't actually take the court until almost 11.  Then his fourth-round match was held until 4:00 (even though the two women's matches prior to it were both short), which pushed back the start of Zverev's scheduled 8:15 match.

I think part of the problem here--a big part--is just a poor job of scheduling.  There was a lot of rain in Paris during the first week and only the two main stadiums have retractable roofs, so they ended up pretty far behind and needing to play catch up.  A totally understandable dilemma.  However, on Saturday, they scheduled the conclusion of Grigor Dimitrov's match as a fourth day session match on Court Phillipe Chatrier....and kept it there even after Zverev's five-setter took four hours!  Dimitrov and Zizou Bergs played two and a half sets, then they had to clear out the day session crowd and let in the night session crowd before Djokovic could get started (more than two hours late!).  Which could've been completely avoided had they not tried to squeeze the finish of Dimitrov-Bergs between the Zverev and Djokovic matches.

Another thing that's been particularly noticeable about the French Open night matches is how they've all been men's matches.  Don't think the women haven't noticed that.  The night session at Roland Garros is only one match (at both hardcourt majors, it's usually two), so, in that regard it makes sense to schedule a men's match which you know is guaranteed to be at least three sets and likely two hours or more, while a quick, two-set women's match can be done in an hour.  Amazon Prime has a deal with the French Tennis Federation to broadcast the night session, so I bet that likely has something to do with it.  But still, the optics definitely are not good.

The optics also aren't good at the beginning of the day.  The first match every day is scheduled for 11 AM.  Just like every night match has been a men's match, every 11 AM match has been a women's match.  So, it's only the women who have the early wake-up call to go play in a half-empty stadium.  (Because of Djokovic's walkover, the first match on Wednesday is a men's doubles match before the women's quarterfinals are on court second and third, with Zverev's match again at night.)

Scheduling three matches during the day session greatly increases the likelihood of the night session getting delayed, especially if one (or more) of them ends up being a long affair.  That's the risk you run with an untimed sport like tennis.  Likewise, you run the risk of fans feeling shortchanged by having three quick matches during the day session (that's when you add a doubles match at the end).  So, some of it can definitely be blamed on bad luck.  And the rain taking away the outer courts certainly didn't help.  You can't blame it all on that, though.

At the US Open, they only schedule two matches--generally one men's, one women's--on Arthur Ashe Stadium during the day session.  Even though play doesn't start until noon (it starts at 11:00 on the outer courts), that's usually enough time before the night session starts at 7:00.  And, even if the night session does end up getting delayed a little, they're still usually on court before 8, which means while the late-night finish is still possible, it's far more likely play will end for the day at a much more reasonable time.

We've reached the point in the tournament where all remaining singles matches are played in the main stadium regardless, so this is a moot point now, but only having one court with a roof is part of the problem, too.  (The roof on Court Suzanne Lenglen will be ready in time for the Olympics, when Roland Garros is the site for the boxing finals as well as tennis.)  They wanted to make sure matches got played so they could stay as close to on schedule as possible.  The only way to do that was to put them on Chatrier.  However, that made playing late at night that much more likely.

Nobody wants to do away with night sessions.  Not the players, not the fans and definitely not the broadcasters.  The night sessions aren't the problem.  It's the late-night finishes that are.  And the more players make an issue of it, the chances of it changing only increase.  Because they do have an impact.  They do affect the players, both mentally and physically, as the tournament progresses.  And, if they're not at their best, how are they supposed to compete for a Grand Slam title?

There's definitely some sort of compromise that can be reached here.  The simplest solution would seem to be imposing a Wimbledon-like curfew.  Matches can't start after a certain time.  Of course, that would still be problematic at Roland Garros since they only have one night match on the schedule, but that's where a curfew could come into play, too.  Once they reach a certain time, play is suspended for the night at the conclusion of the current set.

Yes, suspending play in the middle of the match would be annoying since it would mean the players have to come back the next day to finish the match instead of getting an off day, but it's also something they're used to.  In the non-Majors, they often have to play again later that day if a match is rained out or suspended.  And, suspending the match would mean they're still able to go to bed at a somewhat normal time instead of 5/6 AM. 

Sure, there are probably some players who'd prefer to play that night and finish at whatever time.  They're already there, so they might as well play and still have that entire off day to recover.  Then the tournament organizers can hopefully help them out by giving them a late afternoon/evening start in the next round.  But I'm sure there are just as many who wouldn't be opposed to the idea of either suspending or postponing until the next day.

Consider the fans, chair umpires, linespeople, ball people and everybody else, too.  They aren't putting in nearly as much effort as the players and don't have those post-match obligations, but they're still staying up until that late hour.  Or, for the fans, as late as they can until they have to go home.  That's another reason why it's worth considering making a change to the night sessions at Grand Slams.  Either way, I think they'll take a look at it after the French Open.  Whether a change is coming, well, that's a different question!