Aryna Sabalenka had to play a late-night match at the 2024 US Open, and she was far from happy about that.
The Belarusian player added her name to the history books at the 2024 US Open, but not for the reason that she would have wanted. Ideally, Sabalenka would prefer to have records to her name tied because of winning matches, but that wasn't the case this time.
She played against Ekaterina Alexandrova in the third round of the season's last major tournament, and she had to wait a really long time before finally stepping onto the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The two competed in a match that marked the longest-ever start of a tennis match in the history of US Open, starting eight minutes after the midnight.
It came after all of the previous matches on the court extended quite a bit. First, Coco Gauff needed three sets to beat Elina Svitolina, and after that, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton took their match to five sets.
In the first match of the night session, which already started later than scheduled, Novak Djokovic lost to Alexei Popyrin in four sets, and that was even one of the better scenarios for Sabalenka.
The match lasted 'only' three hours and 20 minutes, and considering that the 24-time major winner and defending champion was down two sets to one, it was expected that he could take the match into the fifth set.
Luckily for Sabalenka, he didn't, and she got to step onto the court a bit earlier than she could have, which would have made up for even more ridiculous situation. After her win over Ekaterina Alexandrova, she admitted that she was praying that the previous match would not be extended too much.
"I was praying that they’re not gonna play so long."
Still, she started extremely late and after the match, she was surprised why Djokovic and Popyrin started an hour and 20 minutes after the match between Tiafoe and Shelton ended.
One of the reasons might have been the fact that all the ticket holders from the day session had to exit the stadium before those that held night session passes could enter the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
"That was an interesting decision in between matches to have this 1 hour and 20 minute gap. I was like ‘no way.. I’m gonna start at midnight.’ And that’s actually what happened. That was tricky."
Waiting between the matches, Sabalenka tried to stay calm, but she didn't enter her match well, losing the opening set 2-6, showing that the late start probably impacted her.
Still, the World No. 2 player was able to come back, winning the match in three sets, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 to reach the fourth round of the 2024 US Open.
"We stayed with the team and tried to relax. Right before the match we did our warm up and we hoped for the best."
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