The Australian Open is weighing up switching the days for the women’s and men’s singles finals in a bid to ensure fans can watch the entirety of both.
AAP reports Tennis Australia’s yearly debrief included a discussion around playing the men’s final on the last Saturday night of the tournament, and the women’s final on the last Sunday night.
While it’s unlikely the change would occur for 2025, TA boss Craig Tiley is keen to explore options.
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All major tennis tournaments follow the traditional model with the women’s final first but this creates problems at grand slam level, most notably when the men’s final goes long on Sunday night – as it did when Jannik Sinner came back to beat Daniil Medvedev this year.
Many east coast fans had already gone to bed with Medvedev holding a two-set lead because they had work in the morning. Sinner claimed his first grand slam title well after 11pm local time.
Playing the men’s final on Saturday would avoid the ‘I’ve got work the next day’ problem for the overwhelming majority of viewers, and the women’s final can only run three sets at most, meaning it would be over by a relatively reasonable time of 10:30pm at worst.
It would also be a major step towards equality, given that the automatic assumption the men should play on the final day promotes them as the true main event act over the women, regardless of the players involved.
The AAP report states Tennis Australia would not need approval from the ATP or WTA to make the change but would consult players.
The main concern would be the flow-on effects earlier in the tournament, since male players need a 48-hour recovery period after their five-setters, whereas with shorter matches throughout the event women are more able to deal with the one-day turnaround between the quarter and semi-finals.
The addition of a Sunday start to the tournament, extending the event to 15 days, could help assist with the scheduling dilemma this swap would create.
