Australia Open Under Scrutiny as Stars React to Controversial Schedule

Gauff comeback lands Quarter final spot! | 01:46

The Australian Open has been criticised for its treatment of women’s matches across the schedule – but the players themselves didn’t seem to mind too much.

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Tournament schedule makers always have to strike a difficult balance, appeasing ticket-buyers (who want bang for their buck with the biggest names), TV networks both in Australia and abroad (who want top players in good timeslots), and the players themselves (who may have a natural preference for playing in the day or at night).

But while the grand slam aims at equality where possible, the natural bias towards spotlighting men’s matches was obvious on day eight.

The four women’s singles fourth round matches were done by the mid-afternoon in Melbourne, and at one stage three of them were being played at the exact same time across Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and John Cain Arena.

It meant all of Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Paula Badosa and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had to battle both their opponents and arguably the hottest weather of the tournament so far, with the sun particularly intense on Sunday.

The move to seemingly clear the decks for the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev received ridicule online, with prominent tennis tweeter Jose Morgado suggesting it was “tragic scheduling”.

Most notably Djokovic’s clash with Jiri Lehecka was the only singles match of the night session on Rod Laver Arena – which at least meant two women didn’t have to wait until after a potential five-setter to play their match late, as Madison Keys and Danielle Collins did on night seven.

“What is going on with AO scheduling?” former world No.3 Pam Shriver tweeted.

“Is it a race to get women’s matches out of the way as early as possible on all courts?”

The Tennis Podcast’s Catherine Whittaker said of the day eight schedule: “It has a real ‘let’s get the women out of the way’ flavour about it.”

Meanwhile former New York Times journalist Ben Rothenberg, now writing for Bounces, tweeted: “Weird frontloaded OOP (order of play) and matches burnt by the heat…easily the least enjoyable day of this Aus Open so far, but it is setting up some really neato QFs.”

Every day so far, including day nine on Monday, has featured a women’s match first up at 11:30am on Rod Laver Arena.

At the other end of the schedule, only twice in the first eight days did the Australian Open opt for the fairest centre court night session order of play – with a shorter women’s match on first, followed by the men, who would expect to start at a reasonable time between 8:30 and 9pm.

Notably this is the schedule tactic for Monday, with Iga Swiatek facing Eva Lys to open the night session, before Alex de Minaur battles Alex Michelsen.

Thankfully, no men’s matches in the Rod Laver Arena night session have lasted longer than three hours, meaning there has been no repeat of day one of the 2024 tournament when Aryna Sabalenka walked onto centre court at 11:41pm for her first round match.

But the players themselves did not seem bothered with the heat nor the early starts, as in their eyes, it presented a better alternative than playing late into the evening as often happens at Melbourne Park.

“I like to play both (day and night matches) because if you finish early, then you have time for dinner, to relax,” Aryna Sabalenka said after defeating Mirra Andreeva in straight sets.

“You’re not that late. Your sleep is better.

“Also, of course, I like to play 7pm matches. Not the second after 7, after (the) guys. I don’t want that.”

Sabalenka has played three consecutive day matches on Rod Laver Arena after playing her first round match at night, while Coco Gauff, who defeated Belinda Bencic in three sets, has had an even mix of day and night encounters.

The third seed and US Open champion is worthy of primetime, but playing during the day also presents the opportunity for broadcasters in America to show her matches in primetime there – a 1pm start in Melbourne equalling a 9pm start in New York, and 6pm in Los Angeles.

Local broadcasters also have to be considered, and with star power in women’s tennis down at the moment – especially since the retirement of Ash Barty – they’re more likely to prefer a Djokovic match at night, as seen on Sunday.

However there is an argument that not spotlighting women’s tennis in the most-watched session, at night, exacerbates the star power problem and a level of balance is good for the sport as a whole.

Meanwhile, Sunday’s other two women’s victors shared Sabalenka’s sentiments having experienced the rough end of the stick when it comes to the Australian Open’s late nights.

Paula Badosa played after a men’s match at night on Margaret Court Arena, while Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also played late into the night and suffered extensive rain delays in early matches.

“We had every day women’s matches late also. I was one of them,” 11th seed Badosa said.

“Particularly talking personally about me, I like to play early. I’m an early morning person. It’s great, you can finish earlier, you can have a good sleep. Sometimes when you play late, it’s tough to go to sleep, it’s tough to rest.”

Meanwhile, 27th seed Pavlyuchenkova said: “Yeah, I don’t really mind this at all.

“I mean, again, I think I’m not even in position to complain because, as I said, my first match I was playing on Court 6, like last match on. There is a bar next to the court. People were drunk and yelling, eating and drinking. Wow, I thought it was not even a Grand Slam.

“Then we played on Kia without a roof. I was five times suspended. I finished the match at 9, and I was on second.

“Yeah, I think I’m not in a position to really comment on this thing. I was happy enough to play on the bigger court yesterday, or the match before, and today. Yeah, I think maybe sometimes it’s better for even recovery to finish early, not to play super late as the conditions also they get really, really different.”