Just In: Andy Murray agrees with Carlos Alcaraz demand for change and says ‘I really don’t like it’
Carlos Alcaraz and Andy Murray have agreed that tennis matches starting at midnight should not be happening. The uproar over the controversial late finishes comes as Alcaraz finished his US Open quarter-final defeat to Ben Shelton at 3:30am local time after starting just after 11pm due to delays earlier in the day.
The Spaniard was making his comeback from injury and appeared to be struggling throughout the match with the time it was taking place unlikely to have helped. He has since hit out at tennis chiefs for allowing it to go ahead at that time and suggested even finishing a game at midnight is wrong.
He said: “For an athlete finishing at 3:30am means you have to leave the court at 4:30am and return to the hotel. You won’t sleep until 6:30am or 7:00am. The person you are playing next has an advantage. It’s too much; they will have to do something. For me even finishing at 12:00am is already too late.”
Unsurprisingly, Alcaraz is not alone in this sentiment with former world No1 Murray an advocate against late finishes but not just because of the players. “The late finishes are just nonsense,” Murray told The Times. “I said that years ago and the tournaments said they’ve tried to make changes and it keeps on happening.
“I just don’t think players should be going on court at midnight. It’s not just the players. I don’t think it’s beneficial for anybody. You’re supposed to be entertaining people and normally the vast majority have left the stands.
You’ve got ball kids on the court. If I was their parent, I’d be like, ‘What are they doing putting them out at 3am?’ And there’s all the other people working at the venue. I really don’t like it.” Murray also criticised how busy the tennis calendar has become with Alcaraz’s injury caused by how frequently he was playing.
He added: “I also don’t like the [12-day] Masters events. I think [the ATP] needs to change that back. The players don’t like it. The tournaments are now missing out on top players going to play in them, because they’re not going to play Cincinnati and Canada before the US Open because that’s a really long stretch away.
“I don’t think it works. I don’t think it’s a good thing for the product that all the players are complaining about the schedule. Tennis has a lot of great things, but you often don’t hear about any of them because of things like this that could be quite easily solved
