US Open Scheduling

Do I detect the first wrinkle in the absurd scheduling of this tournament - after two pretty full day's play there are 20 matches left to play in Djoko's half of the draw and on Fed's side of the draw Murray is playing his 2nd round match but not Fed and some others in their half. I wondered if it was because they've had a few 5-setters and a little bit of rain, but they have already started playing doubles matches. They should use the first two days to get through the 1st two rounds of men's and women's singles - 128 matches done, namely half the main draw singles matches that will be played and therefore half the draws gone. Once they get that essential block of matches out of the way they they have masses of scope to fit in doubles and junior matches and so-on.

It's not as if Stupid Saturday is the only problem - time and time again it seems that the USTA are prepared to muck about with the early scheduling and take unnecessary risks of exacerbating the effect of any mishap on the later scheduling for the sake of being able to headline each evening session with a big name.

I know I sound like a stuck record, but it's such a shame that since Fed overturned the odds in 2007 by winning the final after winning the 2nd SF the ultimate winner has always been the top player who had the best of the usual scheduling screw-up. As the game gets more physical it's likely that scheduling at the USO is going to be increasingly, not less, important.

At least Super Saturday is on its way out....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444327204577613451336334874.html

Alas, it's not likely to change. It's all about TV schedules in the States (and in other countries too).
Remember we are talking about a country which refused to show the London Olympics live as they wanted to show highlights at American peak viewing time.

lydian wrote:At least Super Saturday is on its way out....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444327204577613451336334874.html

That's very good news - albiet a too-late acknowledgement that something is wrong with their tournament.

"Technology has not quite gotten us there, but we are very encouraged by where we're going, so much so that we do believe that we will get there," said Gordon Smith, the USTA's chief operating officer. "We cannot tell you when that will be.""

Absolutely meaningless waffling.

barrystar spot on. Every year they mess around with the early matches then come the inevitable rain delays they are constantly playing catch up.

BTW what happened to Nalbandian? Looks like he didn't fancy a 1st round encounter with del Potro and pulled out. Or was he helping the organisers ease their back log of matches?

I think they usual have R1 on Wednesday, isn't it part of the initial plan.

Not that I agree.

Very good news about the ending of Stupid Saturday. Wasn't Rusedski one of those who suffered from the insanity in 1997? I've just put money on Nole winning this year due to the easier semi. Mind you if Murray or Fed go out early-ish then I reckon Nole's odds will lengthen rather than shorten as he could be facing a fresher Murray or Fed in the final.

Henman Bill wrote:I think they usual have R1 on Wednesday, isn't it part of the initial plan.

Not that I agree.

Yes they do - last year Murray started on a Wednesday and it's absurd.

The finalists will play 7 matches over the fortnight - work back from Stupid Saturday and it's 5 matches between the Opening Monday and the Second Saturday. You have to add in the organiser's fear of putting on alternate Men's and Women's days due to lost TV ratings.

Let's assume Djoko makes the final. He will have finished R2 tomorrow and having taken 5 days to play his first 2 matches he will have 5 more matches to play in the next 9 days. I guess you'll see him in R3 on Sunday, R4 on Tuesday, and the QF on Thursday. So we have the crazy situation that as at Thursday morning there are four remaining candidates for Sunday's final on his side of the draw of which the successful one will be playing 3 bo5 matches in 4 days. On the other side of the draw Wednesday's QF's will have decided the two Semi-Finalists who will have their feet up for two days, Thursday and Friday, before themselves being faced with 2 bo5 matches in two days. That's an absurd schedule even if it goes according to plan. It's crazy for Djoko's side of the draw, and not particularly good for the other side of the draw as 2 days is a longish lay-off at the business end of a tournament. If the weather on Thursday is bad there's no way of dealing with a delay that won't cause egregious unfairness unless the final is postponed (which would still leave Djoko's side facing 3 bo5 matches in 4 days). The organisers back themselves into the same stupid corner every year and give themselves absolutely zero room for re-scheduling. It's clear that the aim of organising a fair tournament to identify the best male singles player is not at the top of their agenda.

I'll give the organisers credit for sensitivity this year in one respect at least - they've obviously noted the 'Fognini effect' and decided not to put Djoko on the side of the draw who are scheduled to miss play Thursday and Friday.

So here we are. I could almost have cut-and-pasted this post from the last 4 years...

The USTA required Djoko's side of the draw to dawdle to their third match on Sunday so that after yesterday's predictable rain delay the eventual finalist from his side has 4 bo5 matches to play in the next 5 days. They spent yesterday unable to relax properly because they were waiting to see if they'd get on whilst the ultimate final opponent in the other half gained the benefit of a proper rest day before needing to undertake 3 matches in the same period. If things go according to plan today it's 3 matches in 4 days for Djoko's side and 2 in 4 days for Fed/Murray's side.

If NYC has no more significant rain I think that the USTA will make Djoko's side play to the scheduled final on Sunday, meaning that they'll schedule Djoko's half to play again tomorrow with the rest day on Friday but also give them the counter-balancing advantage of going first on Super Saturday. Finish on time and only one day of disappointing TV (yesterday) - job done eh?

It's no way to run a Slam and the absence of a roof doesn't enter into it.

The USTA are total handshufflers!

They don't cover the courts because of 'sponsorship' reasons. The show courts are exposed to all the elements and in the 21st century these cocksuckers still haven't worked out that actually it isn't technology which is the barrier to positive change, but market driven meatheads who haven't an ounce of common sense. Why not just say we won't do anything to change because we are corporate wh0res instead of the 'we can't do anything' jargon crap!

America is right. Everything is bigger in America. Even the stupidity and man sausage-ups!

barrystar, my sentiments exactly. As ridiculous as Stupid Saturday is, the week 1 scheduling is even more so. This is where so many of the problems flow from.

If there are more delays/postponements tomorrow, then Djoko and Delpo's half of the draw is stuffed. This could mean they play their QF as late as Friday. If they play on Friday, I think it's unlikely they'll get the early session on Saturday.

So that's 4 BO5 games in 5 days, including the stupid session of Stupid Saturday.

legendkillarV2 wrote:They don't cover the courts because of 'sponsorship' reasons.

Is this true?! I didn't know that.

Staggering. Simply staggering.

HM Murdoch wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:They don't cover the courts because of 'sponsorship' reasons.

Is this true?! I didn't know that.

Staggering. Simply staggering.

It is. When there was a rain delay Saturday/Sunday I think it was and they were in the studio, Marcus confirmed that reason courts weren't covered were because of 'sponsorship' reasons with boards.

You just wonder what tournament if any has a poor excuse like that!

Easy solution. Get the sponsors names on to the covers

sirfredperry wrote:Easy solution. Get the sponsors names on to the covers

Spot on.

Crazy that they won't entertain covers. They'd sooner wait around an hour after rain has stopped and have staff using towels in an amateurish manner to dry the courts. Pathetic.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Crazy that they won't entertain covers. They'd sooner wait around an hour after rain has stopped and have staff using towels in an amateurish manner to dry the courts. Pathetic.

True. But remember this is also the tournament who refused to let the winner say something in his native tongue just so they'd have enough time to list all the sponsors.

Awful tournament.

If it were me, I would start the first round with a night session on the Friday night, and have it completed on Monday. This would enable a Sunday final even with some rain delays.

There are some other benefits: more fans get to see the play, more TV hours at the weekend, more time for sponsors to have their products advertised.

You just need to move the qualifying forward 1 day and move the tournament(s) the week before to a Saturday finish.

R1 Friday night - Monday
R2 Tue-Wed
R3 Thur-Fri
R4 Sat-Sun
QF Mon-Wed (Mon women's, Tue + Wed men's)
SF Thur-Fri (Thur women's, Fri men's)
F Sat - Sun (Sat women's, Sun men's)

Here is an article I wrote once about the US Open scheduling:

http://mytennislounge.com/comments/index.php?shell=2714

Henman Bill wrote:Here is an article I wrote once about the US Open scheduling:

http://mytennislounge.com/comments/index.php?shell=2714

a good read HB

I only hope the USTA hasn't found it!

US guys are terrible at schedules.
...what hope is there when they cant even say the word properly!

Tomorrow we have on the 2 Arthur Ashe sessons a mixed doubles final in the morning, then Tipsarevic v. Ferrer, an exhibition doubles with Mac and Courier in the evening followed by Djoko v. Del Boy. On Armstrong we have 4 doubles SF's - men and women.

They are quite obviously padding out the evening session to try and justify charging two rounds of tickets for 3 competitive matches.

It's so naked, thank heavens the weather means that they look to have gotten away with it this time (relatively speaking), although I think the Djoko side of the draw have an unfairly tall order of 4 matches in 5 days.

Well David Ferrer doesn't have that problem and Novak Djokovic played half a match in about two hours (equivalent to a strenuous knock-up on court that I am sure he would have had had he not played). I think it is Del Potro and Tipsarevic who are more compromised.

Ferrer is OK, I agree that Del Boy and Tipsarevic have got the tougher end of it, but don't forget they had to spend most of tuesday on edge waiting to come on.

In the round though, I think it's more to do now with which of the Semifinalists has the tougher QF today (if any) and who goes first on Super Saturday.

AA court should suit Ferrer more...quicker Armstrong would have been better for Tipsy. Yep, looks like they have squuezed through it again without a roof...but what will they do next year when Saturday play for men isnt scheduled if it rains again. They need that roof pronto.

The talk I have heard is that the first semi will be the one containing Djoko's half of the draw in order to give them as long as possible to recover for the final as they have got the rough end of the stick with delays. That would mean Berdych V Murray being the night match. I stand corrected if I am wrong.

Djokovic blasts US Open schedule ahead of final Read more at http://www.espn.co.uk/tennis/sport/story/169496.html#zBVdB1RfTKGK28cr.99

Novak Djokovic has described the "Super Saturday" concept at the US Open as "ridiculous" as he prepares to take on Andy Murray in the final on Monday.

Djokovic, who will aim to defend the title he claimed in 2011 in the decider, reached this year's final courtesy of a 2-6 6-1 6-4 6-2 win over David Ferrer. The second seed later blasted the schedule and called for tournament officials to abandon the crammed programme.

"I'm not so sure about this Super Saturday," Djokovic said. "I really hope that the tournament will consider changing things for next year.

"Eventually playing back-to-back five sets with the top rivals, top guys, I think that's ridiculous from the players' perspective.

"I think I'm not speaking in the name of myself only. I think most of the players will agree. Every other grand slam has a Friday/Sunday last couple of days. This is the only Grand Slam that has Super Saturday. We'll see what happens."

The US Open adopted the "Super Saturday" concept in 1984, hosting both men's semi-finals and the women's final played on Saturday with the men's final played the following day.

Tournament officials have revealed that Djokovic may get his wish, hinting at plans to a change in the semi-final scheduling format next year, though exact details have not been made public.

"We are committed to a day of rest between the semis and finals beginning in 2013," tournament director David Brewer said.

Djokovic will be aiming for his sixth grand slam title on Monday, while Murray will be pushing for his maiden crown in his fifth final. It is the fifth straight year inclement weather has pushed the men's final back to Monday.

As others have noted, change is coming...... eventually.