Gauff Gives Her Honest Verdict On Late-Night Finishes At Australian Open
WTA
Coco Gauff was asked about late finishes at the 2024 Australian Open, and unsurprisingly, she's not really keen on playing one of the late matches.
This year's Australian Open changed the Rod Laver Arena schedule to minimize the number of matches that extend late into the night. It comes after previous editions often saw the night session extend deep into the night, which is not ideal for the players because it messes up their recovery.
There has been a Tour-wide initiative to minimize late matches. This year's night session has two matches, with the first one beginning at 7 pm local time. It's a good starting time, but as the first two days showed, it can still create problems.
Gauff even referenced that in her response when asked what she thought of the night matches, after she played the opening day session match at the Rod Laver Arena on Monday.
"If I'm going to play night, I always would like to play the first night match, because usually typically the women's, our longest match is three hours usually. And then the men's, it can go minimum three -- or minimum two hours, and that's even fast. With an average match it's like three-and-a-half."
That's what happened to Aryna Sabalenka, who played the second match that night. Novak Djokovic played before her, but his match extended quite a bit, forcing her to play after midnight.
Luckily for Sabalenka, she crushed her opponent quickly, so it was not a huge problem, but it could have been. That's why Gauff would prefer to play in the first slot and then leave the men to do their own thing in the second match.
She understands why the event has matches at night, but as a player, she has to think from her own perspective, prioritizing her health and recovery.
"It's like a tough thing because, yes, at night is probably our prime time and we can optimize viewers, but also we have to protect the players' health. It's like a fine line. I get both sides of it."
"I'm going to always go for the players' side, but I also can understand the media and the marketing and optimizing the money side. So it's tough."
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