SHOCKING: After 3:30 am finish to Alcaraz vs Shelton QF, sports analyst exposes influence of money driving US Open scheduling amid backlash
Ben Shelton’s quarterfinal win over Carlos Alcaraz at the 2026 US Open finished at 3:33 AM local time in New York on Thursday, September 10, with the match having started around 11 PM the night before. The incredibly late finish sparked relentless criticism of the hard-court major’s scheduling. Recently, sports analyst Joe Pompliano explained why the US Open, despite the raging criticism, continues to place all singles matches from the quarterfinals onwards exclusively at Arthur Ashe Stadium solely due to financial reasons.
Pompliano recently featured as a guest on the Basketball Illuminati podcast. Here, he dismissed certain fans’ defense of the US Open’s decision after calling Alcaraz and Shelton’s five-set thriller the best match of the hard-court major this year.
“That was probably the best match of the entire tournament and it ended at 3:30 in the morning, and everyone’s like, ‘Well that’s what happens. Tennis matches can take a little bit longer. Sometimes they go five sets. The match before went longer. That’s just what they can do.’ But that’s not true,” Pompliano said. (from 1:20).
He went on to explain that the US Open‘s Arthur Ashe Stadium-only scheduling for men’s and women’s singles matches from the quarterfinals stems from the lack of corporate suites at the Louis Armstrong Stadium, which is the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center’s second-largest arena. According to the sports analyst, the decision boils down to the revenue the tournament earns.
Pompliano also brought up how the Wimbledon Championships places matches from the quarterfinals onwards on both Centre Court and Court No. 1, which eases the prestigious grass-court Grand Slam’s scheduling issues.
