Tournament boss defends Aussie Open 'farce'

1 year ago 45

Tennis Australia main enforcement and Australian Open tourney manager Craig Tiley has defended scheduling decisions aft Thanasi Kokkinakis and Andy Murray's five-set epic finished aft 4am.

Tiley's defence came aft Murray, a subordinate who has experienced a bid of station 2am finishes implicit the people of a agelong career, was among the main critics of the decorativeness clip of his blockbuster clash with the Aussie.

"I don't cognize who it's beneficial for," Murray said aft the match.

LIVE UPDATES: Australian Open 2023 time 5 highlights

"We travel present aft the lucifer and that's what the treatment is. Rather than it being like, epic Murray-Kokkinakis match, it ends successful a spot of a farce.

"Amazingly radical stayed until the end. And I truly admit radical doing that and creating an ambiance for america astatine the end. I truly admit that."

Speaking connected Nine's Today, Tiley said scheduling of expansive slams was "extremely difficult", but the precocious decorativeness would beryllium portion of their yearly reappraisal aft the tournament.

"There are truthful galore variables that spell into reasoning astir however you're going to marque it enactment each day," helium said.

"Over the past fewer days we person had utmost heat, we've had implicit 5 breaks of rain, we've had cold.

"It's Melbourne, but we don't often get those conditions successful specified a abbreviated play of time."

Watch the Australian Open unrecorded and escaped connected the Nine Network: Channel 9, 9Gem and 9NOW.

Those delays person meant schedulers person been chasing their tails to get backmost on-time.

"Generally a women's lucifer is astir an hour-and-a-half, and a men's lucifer a small implicit two-and-a-half hours.

"That's the bulk of the magnitude of matches, [and] you enactment your docket astir that.

Murray reflects connected mind-bending marathon

"But you are ever going to person an retired of the container concern wherever similar past nighttime it goes other agelong unexpectedly."

Tiley said Australian Open schedulers travel a akin signifier to the 3 different slams, wherever the greeting sessions footwear disconnected astatine 11am, with evening sessions from 7pm.

He said schedules - peculiarly for the nighttime sessions - would not change.

"You would expect from 7pm to 12am [the evening session] successful that five-hour window, you would get 2 matches.

"We besides person to support the matches. If you conscionable enactment 1 lucifer astatine nighttime and there's an injury, you don't person thing for fans oregon broadcasters.

"At this constituent determination is nary request to change the schedule. We ever look astatine it erstwhile we bash the debrief similar we bash each year, we've had agelong matches before, astatine this constituent we've got to acceptable the matches successful in the 14 days truthful you don't person galore options."

Jelena Dokic dismissed disapproval of the precocious finish, saying it happens regularly astatine slams.

Speaking connected Today, she said precocious - oregon aboriginal - finishes were peculiarly communal astatine the US Open.

"It is pugnacious - we had atrocious weather. This happens successful tennis much often than not - I conscionable don't deliberation we sometimes perceive astir it," Dokic said.

"At the US Open we ever person matches that spell to 3 oregon 4am - it is mean successful tennis. Not a batch of different sports person that.

"Yes it's tough, but I don't deliberation anybody thought this was going to spell connected for six hours."

The latest expansive slam decorativeness ever successful the Open epoch was besides astatine the Australian Open, with Lleyton Hewitt defeating Marcos Bagdhatis successful a 3rd circular lucifer that went the region successful 2008 and finished astatine 4.34am.

For a regular dose of the champion of the breaking quality and exclusive contented from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!