Jessica Pegula calls for Grand Slam rule change but dismisses ‘stupid’ new proposal
Jessica Pegula has outlined what changes she would make to men’s Grand Slam tennis but isn’t sure how to fix the late-night matches conundrum.
US Open organisers faced a barrage of criticism after multiple matches finished in the early hours of the morning, most notably Ben Shelton‘s five-set win over Carlos Alcaraz.
The quarter-final epic didn’t finish until 3.33am in a near five-hour marathon, in a match where Arthur Ashe Stadium ended up being less than half full.
United States Tennis Association CEO Craig Tiley said he plans on keeping two matches (one each for men and women) during the night session at Flushing Meadows next year, and until someone comes up with a solution, the rest is white noise to him.
He told Sky Sports, “I hear from a lot of people that it finishes too late and then I say, okay, and your suggestion is? I don’t get anything. You can’t control the length of the match.
While it feels really late, the reality is you’ve got to go and look at the data, But that being said, no one wants to finish at 3.30am in the morning, although the rest of the world in the daytime saw a pretty amazing match.
“We really like the two days and two nights. Two full sessions and you get a women’s match and a great men’s match, and that’s what our fans are telling us. They can come out and see three, four, five hours of entertainment and if it goes really long like the other night, that’s a great sporting ticket so I will keep it.”
US Open semi-finalist Pegula has proposed a motion to decongest the first week or so of the tournament but admits her plan wouldn’t fix a situation like Shelton versus Alcaraz.
She said on The Player’s Box Podcast, “I don’t know what the answer is. My theory with five sets has always been they should just play five sets from maybe the quarters on, but that wouldn’t have solved that problem that day.
“I still think that they should play two out of three until the quarters and then switch it to three out of five. But would that fix the problem, no?”
Pegula and former Australian Open champion Madison Keys weren’t particularly keen on proposals such as scrapping advantages at the end of a game, nor getting rid of let cords on serves – something supported by Andy Murray and more.
The world No 3 added, “No ad, I hate no ad. I hope we never go to no ad. Don’t play lets, that’s stupid. Why do you want to win a point like that [if it trickles over the net]?”
And Keys chimed in, “Don’t play lets. Don’t play the let out. It’s not like it’s saving endless amounts of time.”
The US Open night session begins at 7pm. Some have called on that to start at 6pm but organisers want fuller stadiums and 7pm gives New York workers more time to get to the match after their work day. Until a solution is found, this debate may not go away.
