Australian Open director Craig Tiley yesterday insisted that there was “no need” to alter the scheduling at the tournament, despite stinging criticism after the second-latest match finish at a Grand Slam.
Veteran Andy Murray battled through a five-set epic against home hope Thanasi Kokkinakis which ended at 4:05am yesterday morning to reach the third round, calling the early hours conclusion “a bit of a farce.”
“I don’t know who it’s beneficial for. A match like that, we come here after the match and that’s what the discussion is,” the 35-year-old Briton said after the 5 hours, 45 minutes spectacle, the longest of his career.
Photo: AFP
“Rather than it being, like, ‘epic Murray-Kokkinakis match,’ it ends in a bit of a farce,” Murray said.
Incredibly, Murray was spotted back at Melbourne Park less than eight hours after the end of the match, with Kokkinakis taking to Instagram to pay tribute.
“You’re a warrior Andy Murray and a honour to share the court with you,” he wrote.
The latest finish in the Open era was also at the Australian Open in 2008 when Lleyton Hewitt outlasted Marcos Baghdatis in a third-round clash that ended at 4:34am.
Tennis great Martina Navratilova said “no other sport does this.”
“It is essential we create better rules in tennis regarding the weather [light and wind], and starting times or cutoff times for matches,” she wrote on Twitter.
“Murray and Kokkinakis will finish around 4am. Crazy — no other sport does this,” she added.
Murray’s brother, Jamie, a doubles specialist who is also playing at Melbourne Park this year, joined the chorus of criticism, saying it was time to move to just one match in night sessions at Grand Slams.
“This is the best outcome for ALL singles players,” he wrote on Twitter. “We can’t continue to have players compete into the wee hours of the morning. Rubbish for everyone involved — players/fans/event staff etc.”
However, Tiley said it was part and parcel of the opening Grand Slam of the year — whose scheduling this year has been disrupted by intense heat and rain — and it did not happen often.
“You would expect from 7pm to 12pm [the evening session] in that five-hour window, you would get two matches,” he told broadcaster Channel Nine.
“We also have to protect the matches. If you just put one match at night and there’s an injury, you don’t have anything for fans or broadcasters,” Tiley said.
“At this point there is no need to alter the schedule,” he added. “We always look at it when we do the debrief like we do every year, we’ve had long matches before, at this point we’ve got to fit the matches into the 14 days so you don’t have many options.”
In front of a raucous, but weary Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne, Murray finally prevailed 4-6, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 7-5.
While he praised the fans who remained until the bitter end, he raised concerns about the ball kids.
“If my child was a ball kid for a tournament, they’re coming home at five in the morning, as a parent, I’m snapping at that,” said the Scot, himself a dad.
“It’s not beneficial for them. It’s not beneficial for the umpires, the officials. I don’t think it’s amazing for the fans. It’s not good for the players,” he added.
Czech world No. 86 Marketa Vondrousova, who shocked second seed Ons Jabeur in a match that finished on neighboring Rod Laver Arena after 1am, said even that was too late.
“It’s kind of crazy. I think for the body also, I don’t think it’s healthy to play at 1am,” Vondrousova said.
“Also, like, if you are playing three sets, it’s crazy,” she added.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS