Djokovic ready for Open to scrap 'Super Saturday'

NEW YORK (AFP) –

Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates his 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 win over David Ferrer of Spain during their men’s singles semifinal match at the 2012 US Open tennis tournament in New York.

“Super Saturday” at the US Open cannot end fast enough to suit reigning champion Novak Djokovic, who railed against the idea Sunday after booking a spot in Monday’s final against Andy Murray.

The idea was created by organizers in 1984 to showcase the penultimate day of the year’s final Grand Slam event, with both men’s semi-finals and the women’s final played on Saturday and the men’s final played the following day.

But as tennis has evolved, the stress of playing for a championship on limited rest after an often-gruelling semi-final has become tiresome for men, as have weather delays that have pushed five Open finals in a row to Monday.

“I’m not so sure about this Super Saturday,” Djokovic said. “I really hope that the tournament will consider changing things for next year.

“Eventually playing back-to-back five sets with the top rivals, top guys, I think that’s ridiculous from the players’ perspective.

“I think I’m not speaking in the name of myself only. I think most of the players will agree. Every other Grand Slam has a Friday/Sunday last couple of days. This is the only Grand Slam that has Super Saturday.

“We’ll see what happens.”

Serbian second seed Djokovic beat Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday and will have one day less of rest for Monday afternoon’s final that Murray, who advanced on Saturday over Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych before approaching storms forced a suspension of the Djokovic-Ferrer match.

But Djokovic will be the last man who has to suffer with the next-day final at the US Open.

Tournament officials have already revealed plans to alter the scheduling format starting next year, but they have not revealed exact details.

“We are committed to a day of rest between the semis and finals beginning in 2013,” tournament director David Brewer said.

That likely means a Thursday and Saturday set-up for women’s semi-finals and finals and a Friday and Sunday men’s semis and final.

A possible option is to see the men’s semis stay on Saturday and the final move to Monday night. Like Sunday, the match would be telecast opposite rival American football broadcasts, but in more lucrative “prime time” hours.

The US Open takes three days to complete the first round of the men’s tournament where most Grand Slam events take only two.

Djokovic was happy not to play very long in Saturday’s windy conditions.

“It was incredibly difficult,” Djokovic said. “People who watched Murray and Berdych could see how many times that a player tossed the ball and just let it drop. I never seen that in my life ever so many times it happened. It was brutal.”