(Paris) A night session ended at 2:22 a.m., another at 2:37 a.m., and Jannik Sinner withdrew for “fatigue” immediately: the repetition of extended evenings at the Masters 1000 in Paris raises questions around the scheduling of tennis matches.
The subject is a sea serpent of tennis, and Paris is far from being the only tournament incriminated for its endless nights. But, inevitably, the withdrawal of world No.4 Jannik Sinner, initially expected on the court on Thursday barely fifteen hours after his victory in the middle of the night, at 2:37 a.m., raises questions.
The young Italian (22 years old), whose match started after midnight, cited his state of “fatigue” to justify his decision.
“Happy with Jannik’s victory but no consideration for the well-being of the players with the programming in Paris,” lamented the respected Darren Cahill, Sinner coach since the summer of 2022, on social media during the night. ‘a thumbs down.
Triple Grand Slam finalist and world No.8, Casper Ruud said all the bad things he thought about X. “Well done ATP, great way to help one of the best players in the world to recover and be as ready as possible when he finished his previous match at 2:37 a.m. 2:30 p.m. to recover. What a joke,” scolded the Norwegian player, after the organizers scheduled the round of 16 between Sinner and Alex de Minaur in the fourth match of the day, and not in the evening session.
4:06 a.m. Melbourne
“There is a coordination of programming, we try, even if we don’t succeed every time, to respect a form of fairness between the blocks of the table, there are the singles players involved in doubles, that’s is complicated, explains tournament director Cédric Pioline. Sometimes we have to make complex trade-offs, where we don’t have a good solution. »
With six daily matches scheduled on the central court for the first four days from 11 a.m., in limited infrastructure, with two undersized annex courts, the Masters 1000 in Paris takes the risk of days dragging on well beyond beyond midnight.
Already on Monday, the night of tennis had dragged on until almost two-thirty in the morning.
The record ? When in 2022 Corentin Moutet and Cameron Norrie had completed their second round match, which started after midnight, at 3:03 a.m.
Controversy comes up regularly in Grand Slams. A little at Roland-Garros since the introduction of evening sessions in 2021, slightly advanced last spring. Much more, for example, at the Australian Open, like at the start of the year, when Andy Murray concluded his second round at 4:06 a.m. “A farce”, in the opinion of the British champion.
” It’s crazy. No (other) sport does that, reacted world No.5 Jessica Pegula. It’s something that needs to be talked about, I think that all the players believe that it should no longer happen. »
“A tournament that must grow”
The other consequence of matches that last is the potential delay in the evening session which, in Paris, forces many spectators to wait outside, sometimes for several hours like Wednesday evening.
“ Night session at 7:30 p.m. and we are still outside by the thousands, waiting like cattle!, one of them got angry on Zero customer consideration! »
“Obviously it’s not an ideal situation when you have several thousand people outside waiting,” agrees Pioline.
So what avenues for the Parisian tournament?
Bring forward the start of the days? “Complicated because the players don’t necessarily want to start too early,” replies its director.
This is where we talk again about the relocation project by 2025, possibly from the east to the west of Paris, to La Défense Arena, where it would be further out to sea.
“It reassures us in the idea that we did the right thing to begin this reflection regarding the future of the tournament, which should be concluded soon,” believes Pioline. Today, in the existing infrastructures, the N.1 court is not at the level of a Masters 1000, we know that. It is a tournament that must grow to meet all the requirements. »
The Australian Open provided its answer by going from fourteen to fifteen days from its 2024 edition.
