Carlos Alcaraz is no fan of all-nighters at Grand Slams. The world No. 3 has called on tournament organisers to finish play by 11 pm, following his gruelling 3:33 am finish during his US Open title defence earlier this month.
Alcaraz lost to American Ben Shelton in a five-set thriller in the quarter-finals in New York. During the tournament’s opening week, three matches ended after 2 am, while two more ran well beyond midnight. Venus Williams was involved in the latest-starting clash, which began at 12:13 a.m.
"I think it's too much," seven-times Grand Slam champion Alcaraz told reporters in London ahead of the Laver Cup on Thursday. "The last match people stayed but if that match was played earlier, the court could have been packed. I would like to change the schedule a little, with a maximum finish at 11 pm, or whatever would be better."
The cut-off for matches at Wimbledon is 11 pm local time, while the French Open limits night sessions to one match. However, the US Open and Australian Open do not have an allotted time to halt play. Several players have criticised the scheduling, with Alcaraz saying that finishing late at night does not give players enough time to recover.
"For an athlete finishing at 3.30 in the morning, it means we had to leave the courts at 4.30, then back to the hotel," he said . "You don't go to bed until 6.30 or 7 in the morning. To recover for the next match, the person you play has an advantage.”
"It is too much. They are going to have to do something. I'm not saying 3.30 but (even) finishing at 12 is too late already."
The 23-year-old also believes that late-night matches hinder the sport, as many fans leave the stadium and people go to sleep if they are watching on television. "100 percent. It is a shame a match like this didn't reach a lot of people because they have to go to bed, they have to work in the morning," the world number three said.
"If that match had started at 7 or 8pm, at the maximum finishing at 11, the stadium would have been packed. A lot had to miss it because of the schedule." One way to address the problem would be to reduce the best-of-five-sets format to the three-set system used in men's tennis elsewhere on the ATP Tour.
Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam champion, had also proposed reducing set length instead of playing until the first player wins six games, suggesting a first-to-four format to reduce match length. However, eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi insists players who achieve Grand Slam glory are admired for pushing their bodies to the limits.
"I absolutely believe we should have it (five sets). I believe it's possible to get lucky and win two out of three. I don't think you can get lucky and win three out of five.”
"I think you really have to earn it. There should be a delineation between winning the Slams, the biggest tournaments, versus other weeks of the year,” he said.
Agassi, who is currently serving as Team World captain at Laver Cup, believes cutting back on the length of matches would do a disservice to the history of the sport. "You don't want it going that late. It's unfortunate. I have been in that position plenty of times," he said.
"But the last thing you want to have is an asterisk next to the history of our sport. You don't want somebody just getting hot for an hour and a half and going through some tough matches. We are doing what we can but it is still gladiator stuff. I like it."
