"Total mess" - Andy Murray hits out at US Open's 'amateurish' scheduling as Zheng Qinwen-Donna Vekic record latest women's finish at the event
Andy Murray condemned the US Open's scheduling as Zheng Qinwen's fourth-round encounter against Donna Vekic recorded the latest finish to a WTA match in New York history. The match concluded at 2:15 AM local time, with the Chinese advancing to the quarterfinals.
Zheng was scheduled to play the final match of the night session on Sunday, September 1, at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. During the day session, Grigor Dimitrov and Andrey Rublev's clash was decided in five sets, following which Coco Gauff's title defense ended in three sets against Emma Navarro.
The lengthy day matches caused a delay in the night session. Frances Tiafoe's 6-4, 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3 win over Alexei Popyrin was the first match of the evening followed by a rematch of the Paris Olympics women's singles final between Zheng vs. Vekic.
Zheng vs. Vekic began around 11:25 PM on Sunday and lasted two hours and 50 minutes, finishing at around 2:15 AM. The Croatian could not register her revenge as Zheng won 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-2. They registered a record late finish for a WTA match at the US Open. The previous record was set by Maria Sakkari's and Bianca Andreescu's fourth-round encounter in 2021, which finished at 2:13 AM.
Andy Murray took to X (formerly Twitter) to criticize the scheduling decisions that led to the late-night finish. He called it 'amateurish' and called for improvements.
"The tennis scheduling situation is a total mess. It looks so amateurish having matches going on at 2,3 4am👎 Sort it out @usopen @AustralianOpen @Wimbledon @rolandgarros @atptour @WTA @ITFTennis"
Notably, Aryna Sabalenka's third-round match against Ekaterina Alexandrova had previously set the record for the latest start at the US Open when it began eight minutes past midnight on Saturday, August 31. Sabalenka's triumph concluded around 2:00 AM, while Alexander Zverev's win over Tomas Martin Etcheverry came at 2:35 AM on Saturday.
"It's not beneficial" - Andy Murray lambasted tennis scheduling after 4.05 AM finish at 2023 Australian Open
Murray's criticism of late-night finishes is not new. He also blasted the scheduling at the 2023 Australian Open after his match against Thanasi Kokkinakis finished at 4.05 AM.
The second round clash began after 10:00 PM the earlier day and lasted five hours and 45 minutes, with Murray winning 4-6 6-7 (4) 7-6 (5) 6-3 7-5. It was the third latest finish to a tennis match in history. Later, Murray explained how such scheduling is not beneficial for anyone.
"But if my child was a ball kid for a tournament and they're coming home at five in the morning, as a parent, I'm snapping at that. It's not beneficial for them; It's not beneficial for the umpires, the officials; I don't think it's amazing for the fans; It's not good for the players," Andy Murray said.
"We talk about it all the time, and it's been spoken about for years. But when you start the night matches late and have conditions like that, these things are going to happen," he added.
Many tennis personalities, including Martina Navratilova and Andy Murray's brother, Jamie, also criticized the scheduling at the time.