Criticism of the US Open schedules continues

The US Open 2026 has generated lots of criticism due to the night shift schedules. By chance, there have been several days that have ended excessively late after epic matches, which has led to the complaints from several experts and former tennis players who believe that a change is necessary to prevent this from happening again. One such case has been that of John Lloyd, who has called for a modification for 2027 to avoid these situations.

For example, the match between Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals ended past 3:30 AM. Considering that the players then have to go through recovery, attend press conferences, and receive treatment, it is normal that they would not go to bed until at least 6:00 AM. Something unacceptable for Lloyd, who has urged the Grand Slams to take action for the well-being of the players and the audience, who are the main affected parties in these situations. 

“It's complete nonsense. They keep saying, ‘What are we going to do about it?’. There is only one solution. You cannot have a product that extends beyond midnight regularly. You can’t, it doesn’t work that way. You can't start matches earlier because you don't know how the afternoon matches will go. When it comes to best-of-five set matches, it’s unpredictable. And today’s best-of-five match will only keep getting longer due to these players' physical condition; the match is going to extend more and more, and everyone keeps saying, well, is there any way we can do something?" he stated on the podcast 'Inside-In Tennis'.

Lloyd proposes eliminating Grand Slams to five sets

For Lloyd, the only solution is to eliminate best-of-five set matches for the sake of the spectacle, as as long as this format exists, the risk of ending at midnight will be high. However, that would strip Grand Slams of their essence, and it has already been demonstrated at Wimbledon that the format and scheduling can coexist in the best way.

“Yes, you have a best-of-three format for men and a best-of-three format for women. You can’t schedule two women’s matches because if you do, you wouldn’t have enough matches for the second week. So, you know, a best-of-three set format for men and another best-of-three set format for women. That’s at least three hours of tennis. That’s enough. Why does tennis have to last five or six hours to make people happy? It’s nonsense. Complete nonsense,” he concluded.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Continúan las críticas a los horarios del US Open