Craig Tiley resolves one of the major controversies of the US Open

The US Open 2026 has left a great number of points of interest. Some refer to sporting events, from the triumphs of Alexander Zverev and Elena Rybakina to the significant breakout of Ben Shelton, including the return of Carlos Alcaraz and the competitive equality in the women's circuit; others go beyond and focus on what many see as structural issues. The most talked about? Undoubtedly, the schedules and order of play: more than half of the days ended past midnight, and the tournament's star match, Alcaraz vs Shelton in the quarter-finals, became the latest finish in the tournament's history, after 3:30 AM.

On that day, bad luck played a fundamental role: we cannot ignore that three of the four matches of the day reached their limits in terms of score, ending in the super tiebreak (or tiebreak, in the case of the women's match) of the final set. It's a factor that provides context, but does not explain a pronounced trend of the American tournament, which does not hesitate to favor the show and enhance its night sessions... regardless of the consequences. This year, a man known for innovation took charge of the USTA, starting a term in which he aims to replicate the success achieved in Australia. He is Craig Tiley, who comes with fresh ideas... and he has been the one to settle the debate: the night sessions and the current order of play are here to stay.

For this reason, the US Open will maintain two matches during the night sessions: the controversy is over

The current CEO of the USTA sat down to talk with Sky Sports about a problem that has affected much of the days in North America. After more than 21 years at the helm of Tennis Australia, being the face of a Grand Slam that shares the format of its days with the American one (two matches in the daytime session, two in the nighttime session; all quarter-finals are played on the main court), few have more experience than him when it comes to addressing these issues.

"It's interesting. I hear a lot of people say that the matches end too late. I tell them: 'Okay, and your suggestion is...' Exactly. They don't tell me anything. You can't control the duration of a match", points out Tiley, who goes much further: he highlights very subtle but existing reasons why match duration is increasing, among which stands out the introduction of a shot clock between points.

"In the last ten years, the amount of tennis played from the start of the point to the end is very similar, but the duration of matches in men's tennis has increased by about 25 minutes on average. Why? Because now we have the shot clock, and everyone uses all that time. Add in the towels, which adds a bit more, and the total duration of matches is slightly longer.

Oh so these were the types of points Shelton and Alcaraz were playing last night SHEESH pic.twitter.com/2VbBg4fcsS

— J.P. Hovey (@jhovey34) September 9, 2026

Anyway, even though it feels like everything ends very late, the reality is that you have to look at the data. The average match time for men today is not yet in the top 4 of the last ten years. That said, no one wants to finish a match at 3:30 AM, even though the rest of the world could watch an incredible match during the day. Roland Garros has its own order of play, with three daytime matches and one nighttime match. Wimbledon does not have a nighttime session.

For our part, we really like the format of two daytime and two nighttime matches. Two full sessions where you have a great women's match and a great men's match. That's what fans tell us. They can come here and enjoy three, four, or five hours of entertainment, and if the matches go very long, like on the night of the quarter-finals, you could watch up to six hours of entertainment. That's a ticket of immense value, and that's why we will keep it."

These are words that seemingly put an end to a debate that made headlines last week, with many fans questioning schedules that caused, for example, a significant part of the Spanish audience to miss most of Carlitos' duel against Shelton. It doesn’t seem, however, that things will change soon: we will see what innovations Tiley proposes... but away from this area of the tournament.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Craig Tiley resuelve una de las grandes polémicas del US Open