CELEBRITIES
US Open champion Coco Gauff said tennis matches finishing at 3 a.m. are “not healthy” for the players, but also said she is aware there are a lot of people working in far worse conditions around the world.
The American’s comments came at this year’s French Open, after Novak Djokovic outlasted Italian Lorenzo Musetti in a third round five-set thriller which ended at 3.08 a.m. local time in Paris on Sunday.
Djokovic’s win broke the record for the latest match finish at Roland Garros by almost two hours.
“I feel like a lot of times people think you’re done, but really at 3 a.m., then you have press, then you have to shower, eat and a lot of times people do treatment,” Gauff told reporters Sunday, when asked about her thoughts on late matches, a topic which has caused widespread debate for a number of years.
“That’s probably not going to bed until 5 a.m. at the earliest, maybe 6 or even 7 a.m. I definitely think it’s not healthy and maybe not fair for those who have to play late because it does ruin your schedule.”
Earlier this year, the WTA and ATP published a joint statement which outlined a new strategy to tackle the issue of late finishes on both the women’s and men’s tour.
The new rules now limit the amount of evening matches and prevents any match from starting after 11 p.m.
However, such curfews do not relate to grand slam events where late finishes continue to be a problem, namely the French Open, Australian Open and US Open, where the demand for tickets and broadcasting rights are higher.