Novak Djokovic's PTPA rallies against match scheduling in light of late finish to Andy Murray's marathon Australian Open match
The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), led by Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil, has joined in on the clarion call by the likes of Martina Navratilova and Jamie Murray, among many others, for the tennis authorities to take a serious look at match scheduling. It all began in light of a 4 am finish to Andy Murray's almost 6-hour-long Australian Open epic victory on Thursday.
The match between Murray and Thanasi Kokkinakis lasted 5h 45m and finished five minutes past 4 am on Friday morning, eventually ending with Murray winning 7-5 in the fifth set.
Both during and after the match, the Briton tennis great himself strongly criticized the culture of extremely late finishes in tennis, calling the post 4 am finish to his match "a farce."
His thoughts were echoed by many in the tennis world, who suggested that matches should not only end so late but also not be played for a continuous stretch of six hours, and partly be played the next day in such cases.
The Djokovic-led PTPA, formed with the main aim of protecting players' rights, has now rallied against the same and stated that it will work towards enabling a solution to the match scheduling issues.
"The PTPA is committed to advocating for and contributing to the best vision and structure of tennis globally, as indicated in our official principles. That vision and structure starts with match and tournament scheduling," read a statement from the PTPA on Twitter.
The PTPA said that matches ending at 4 am and going on for such long durations "hurt" the players and other stakeholders involved in tournaments.
"Having players compete past 4 am local time, totaling nearly six hours, hurts the players, fans, event staff, and all involved," it further said. "We look forward to exploring alternate means to scheduling that put fans and players and their wellbeing first."
The PTPA's statement on match scheduling. https://t.co/d7b78bRyGV
Meanwhile, Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley has said that the tournament does not need to alter the schedule, strongly defending the reason behind scheduling two matches in the night session starting at 7 pm on the main courts. Tiley believes that having just one-night session match will impact broadcasting.
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray could face off for the first time since 2017 at Australian Open 2023
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are on a collision course for the semifinals of the 2023 Australian Open. While it initially looked unlikely, Murray's epic wins against 13th seed Matteo Berrettini and then Thanasi Kokkinakis have now got the tennis world excited and hoping for another chapter in the storied Djokovic-Murray rivalry.
Murray still has a big challenge ahead of him to make it happen, mainly in the form of his fitness, after spending a bit over 10.5 hours in only two matches so far.
Meanwhile, Djokovic also has some demons of his own to fight, struggling with a left hamstring injury, and expressing a lot of concern over the same. The Serbian great has said that his injury does not look good.
The two players last faced each other back in 2017 in Doha. Djokovic faces Grigor Dimitrov, while Murray faces Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round of the 2023 Australian Open on Friday.