'Clearly Wrong': Murray Hits Out At Poor Scheduling In Grand Slams Ahead Of US Open

| by Nurein Ahmed

Former ATP No. 1 Andy Murray urged Grand Slam officials to make better choices when it comes to scheduling matches to create fairer environments for all players.

Speaking ahead of the 2023 US Open, Murray accused tournament organizers of prioritizing money to the detriment of players who have had to put up with a gruesome playing schedule, especially in best-of-five-set matches. His view is that playing so late hampers recovery efforts the next day.

Murray states that the criticism levied on players when they complain of harsh schedules is unwarranted as playing tennis so late in the night is not helping the sport. Murray argues that the majority of the fans have left the court by then to beat traffic and access early transport back home.

"I think it’s just generally not good for anyone. Obviously, when the players complain about that stuff, you sort of hear, ‘Oh, shut up and get on with it’ or ‘Try working in a warehouse from 9 to 5’. It’s like, yeah, I get that. I do get that."

"I know I’m fortunate to be playing tennis, but playing at four in the morning – tennis is also partly entertainment – I don’t think it helps the sport that much when you know everyone’s leaving because they have to go and get public transport home and you finish a match like that in front of 10% of the crowd."

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Murray opines that it is only in tennis that scheduling issues are raised regularly, but because tournament officials reason from a financial standpoint, player's claims are not important.

"You don’t see it in other sports. It’s clearly wrong. And the reason for it is purely financial, it’s not because the people that are running the events believe that it’s good for the players, they don’t. It’s a financial reason for why they’re doing it."

Earlier this year, Murray played a five-set match in the second round of the Australian Open, defeating Thanasi Kokknakis at 4 a.m. local time. At the time, Murray called it 'a farce', adding that he doesn't know who exactly benefits from the late-night finish.

This time, Murray raised a few valid and logical points. He says if Slams intend to play two women's matches during the night session, he concurs with the start time being 7:30 pm. If the schedule contains a men's match, he proposes an earlier start time and reckons only one men's match would be playable in that case.

"If they (slams) want to start (night sessions) at 7:30 if they want to play two women’s matches, that time’s fine; if they want to play a men’s match, then I think you can only play one match unless you’re going to start sooner."

Murray concludes his arguments by calling on Wimbledon to change the start time and do away with a 20-minute break between matches. The 36-year-old reckons it is almost impossible to recover for your next match after a 4:30 a.m. finish.

"Wimbledon, they obviously need to change the start times of the matches and move it sooner, stop having the 20-minute breaks between the matches."

"It might still happen from time to time but you’re kind of doing the best that you can to avoid it. And I think that becomes fair on the players because you can’t really expect someone to recover if you finish a match at 4:30 in the morning."

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