NEW YORK – Roger Federer and Maria Sharapois have revealed they don’t love the idea of starting a Grand Slam tournament on Sunday, not on Monday, when the French opening first did it nearly 20 years ago.
Now that this trend has reached the US Open this year, even if crowds gather on Sunday morning before the competition begins, not all current players are exactly the Switch supporters.
“I hate the start on Sunday,” Australian Jordan Thompson ranks 26th in singles and 3rd in doubles. “The tournament won’t start on Sunday. It’ll end on Sunday. I’m particularly sure that the players don’t want.”
Unfortunately, Thompson is scheduled to face Colentin Muttet on Sunday, and things are happening at the Flushing Meadows. There, there is a 15-day singles competition instead of 14 days, and there is no doubt that more money from all kinds of sources is part of the calculations behind the change.
“I’m not really a fan. I don’t know why they had to make it even longer. Well, I know why they did it – they can sell tickets for the extra day,” said Jessica Pegra, runner-up in the US Open in 2024, fourth seed of the year. “I’m not really that way. I don’t think so, especially for a lot of the players who play the week before the slam. It makes everything a little longer and a little more difficult. I don’t think a lot of players want that.”
Pegra cited the move following the Australian opening move to do the same in 2024, following the decision by the French Tennis Federation to begin on Sunday 2006. Wimbledon is currently the only major that begins Monday.
“In many cases, they ask for player feedback and when we do it, they don’t listen to what we say. “Sometimes the players don’t notice how they announce these things.”
This also happens when players complain about their recent shift to longer non-slam tournaments that last for more than a week.
People in charge of tennis refer to the higher prize money they get from these extended tournaments. And changes such as additional days coincides with a record increase in prize money to $85 million, including $5 million to each single champion at the US Open.
USTA spokesman Brendan McIntyre said that adding the 15th day of the single “not only will it provide more fans with the opportunity to see the main draw single competition in person, but it will also give fans around the world the opportunity to watch on weekends and evenings.”
But there are players like Thompson, two-time US semifinalist Francistiáfo and Italy’s Matteo Arnald. He said it would be a mistake to set up someone who made their tournament debut and won on Sunday not playing again until Wednesday.
“I mean, I’ll get it,” American Tearfour, who was sown on the 17th and will be playing his first game on Monday, said of Sunday’s opening. “Why? If you can make money a day and take guys there, then we’re like the day we’ve already died (previously)… That’s not a bad thing.