Tennis star Daria Saville shed light on the harsh reality of Naomi Osaka’s defeat to Amanda Anisimova at the US Open.
In the wee hours of Friday, Anisimova rallied from a set down to beat Osaka 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the semifinals. The American is now slated to face off against World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final, while the Japanese star can only ponder what might’ve been had she not relinquished her early lead.
Though Anisimova and Osaka’s back-and-forth clash featured no shortage of excitement, the match only managed to attract a sparse crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium, which boasts a capacity of 23,771. With a run time of just under three hours, the semifinal didn’t wrap up until around 1 a.m. ET — prompting many supporters to head for the exits long before match point.
Taking to social media, Saville expressed her disappointment upon noticing the underwhelming turnout. “Arthur Ashe being half empty for Anisimova vs Osaka is so sad,” she wrote. “Do you think it’s cause it’s just too late??”
Droves of viewers expressed a similar sentiment on X while noting the US Open’s major scheduling flaw. “The stadium is only halfway full. I know it’s 1230 AM in New York but still. Why would they put this semifinal match at this time?” one user asked, with another adding: “When I see all those empty seats for the women’s semi final at the US Open as the clock moves toward midnight, I know for sure that the schedule organizers have REALLY messed up!”
A third chimed in, “US Open needs to start these matches earlier. All these empty seats are embarrassing. Same thing happened with Sinner last night. Nobody wants to stay up past midnight to watch. Start the matches earlier!!”
Saville is far from the only player who’s spoken out against the less-than-ideal start times of US Open night matches. During last year’s major in Flushing Meadows, Novak Djokovic conceded that he could feel himself “shutting down” while competing in the early hours of the morning.
“Well, I don’t think that aging helps really staying so late and playing very late. I can feel, you know, my batteries are low now. I’m shutting down. But it’s been a long wait, to be honest,” Djokovic said at the time.
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“Those are the instances where you’re scheduled second after 7:00, 7:30 or whatever the start was. I like playing night matches, but I love to start first. So, yeah, hopefully I get more chances to play at night and am scheduled first so we can start at a more decent time and finish at a more decent time.
“I guess for the fans there is something special about this late-night finishes, particularly post-midnight. For us I don’t know. It’s not really what you want, but, you know, if you get a W, then it’s all good.”
AloJapan.com