US Open tennis makes its long-awaited return to Sky Sports and you can watch a minimum of 135 hours of competition on all our platforms; Watch live coverage from August 28 exclusively live on Sky Sports
Thursday 17 August 2023 18:57, UK
The US Open has no plans to alter its scheduling to prevent matches from finishing in the early hours.
Andy Murray branded late-night tennis a "farce" after his second-round match against Thanasi Kokkinakis, at this year's Australian Open, did not begin until after 10pm and finished at 4.05am.
Some players also complained about the late finishes at the French Open and, while Wimbledon's 11pm curfew prevents such issues, there were still a number of matches which had to be carried over to the following day.
At Flushing Meadows last year, eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz completed a five-set win over Jannik Sinner at 2.50am, the latest-ever finish at the event.
The US Open, which begins a week on Monday, holds a night session which incorporates two matches and which this year will still begin at its traditional time of 7pm, despite calls to start earlier.
Tournament director Stacey Allaster said: "Without question late-night matches were heavily discussed and reviewed after the 2022 US Open.
"We looked at starting the evening session earlier, instead of 7pm start at 6pm, but it's not really a possibility because it's hard for New Yorkers to get here even at 7pm.
"We talked about one match at night, but we felt that's not fair to our fans. One of the realities we have in tennis is that we are not defined by a start and an end time. We can have a short match or we can have a five-hour match.
"At the moment we are staying the course with two night matches. We will continue to evaluate it. One thing we do know, there is nothing like a night match on Arthur Ashe."
Men and women will use the same tennis ball this year at the US Open, satisfying some women who complained last year they were hitting an inferior product .
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek - who eventually won the tournament - was among the women who felt their lighter ball didn't hold its strength as long as the one that was used by men. The US Open had been the only one of the four Grand Slam tournaments that used a different ball for men and women.
Allaster said that the type of ball being used was entirely up to the players and their tour. The request to change was made and will be implemented at this year's tournament on a trial basis.
Other changes being implemented include the use of tablets by coaches sitting in their boxes, and players' challenges to review situations such as a ball they believe bounced twice.
The US Open returns to Sky Sports on Monday August 28 with the promise to give fans live coverage of the Grand Slam like never before.
Sky Sports has access to all individual court feeds and will broadcast a minimum of 135 hours of competition throughout the two-week Grand Slam tournament.
Sky Sports subscribers on Sky Glass, Sky Stream, Sky Q, and the Sky Sports app will be able to watch all courts for the first time on Sky Sports.
Across Sky Sports' linear channels and on Sky Sports digital and social channels, tennis fans can enjoy extensive coverage, including both the men's and women's tournaments, alongside respective doubles, mixed doubles, juniors, and wheelchair competitions.
Watch the US Open - live on Sky Sports - from Monday, August 28. Stream the US Open and more with NOW for £26 a month for 12 months
