Craig Tiley, the newly appointed chief executive of the United States Tennis Association, told Sky Sports Tennis that the tournament will retain its current format of two daytime matches and two evening matches at Flushing Meadows beginning in 2027. Tiley, who stepped into the USTA role earlier this year after a decade at the helm of Tennis Australia, said there are no intentions to alter the schedule despite recent controversy over extremely late finishes. The debate was reignited after the quarter‑final marathon between Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz, which stretched into the early hours and finally concluded at 3:33 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
The five‑set duel lasted nearly five hours, leaving only a handful of spectators awake to witness the climax on one of tennis’ grandest stages. The match joined a growing list of post‑midnight conclusions that have become a hallmark of the US Open in recent years.
Historical examples underscore the trend: Alexander Zverev’s 4:54 a.m. win over Brooksby in Acapulco 2022, Lleyton Hewitt’s 4:34 a.m. triumph over Marcos Baghdatis at the 2008 Australian Open, and Andy Murray’s 4:05 a.m. victory over Alex Kokkinakis in the 2023 Australian Open are all cited as precedents for ultra‑late finishes.
More recent instances include Daniil Medvedev’s 3:39 a.m. win over Otto Ruusuvuori at the 2024 Australian Open, and finally Shelton’s 3:33 a.m. win over Alcaraz at the 2026 US Open.
Fans have long praised the electric atmosphere of night matches under the bright lights of New York City, but the frequency of matches that run past 2 a.m. has raised concerns among players, broadcasters, and tournament staff. The issue has gained urgency as top players push for higher prize money, better welfare provisions, and more reasonable working conditions.
Late‑night finishes have become a flashpoint in the broader conversation about the physical and mental toll of the professional tour. Other Grand Slam events have taken steps to curb extreme hours. Wimbledon enforces an 11 p.m. curfew, stopping play when it approaches that limit.
The French Open restricts its night sessions to a single match per day, while the Australian Open, despite its own history of late finishes, has introduced stricter scheduling controls. The US Open, however, has so far resisted imposing similar caps, arguing that the unique energy of New York’s night crowd is an integral part of the tournament’s identity. Tiley acknowledged the logistical challenges of moving evening sessions earlier. New Yorkers often travel to Flushing Meadows after work, and the tournament must accommodate both daytime and nighttime audiences.
He explained, "I hear from a lot of people that it finishes too late and then I say, okay, and your suggestion is? I don't get anything. You can't control the length of the match." He pointed out that the average time between the start of a point and its conclusion has remained stable over the past decade, but the overall duration of men’s matches has risen by roughly 25 minutes.
The increase, he said, is largely due to the introduction of the shot clock, which gives players more time to prepare for each point, and the use of towels and other on‑court routines that add seconds to every rally. "The average length of men’s matches today is still not in the top four average times of the last ten years," Tiley noted, emphasizing that the data does not support the perception of a runaway problem.
Nevertheless, he admitted that nobody wants to stay up until 3:30 a.m. to watch a match, even if the rest of the world enjoys a spectacular showdown during their daytime. "We really like the two days and two nights.
Two full sessions and you get a women's match and a great men's match, and that's what our fans are telling us. They can come out and see three, four, five hours of entertainment and if it goes really long like the other night, that's a great sporting ticket so I will keep it," Tiley affirmed. The US Open’s social media team responded to the Shelton‑Alcaraz marathon with a tongue‑in‑cheek post inviting fans to fill in the blank and ask their employers for time off.
The tweet read: "We understand how important showing up is, but sometimes you have to make time for things you're passionate about. Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton put on an absolute stellar performance during their US Open quarterfinal, and ______ was a fully committed fan who was completely locked in from start to finish." Among the suggestions floated by commentators is the idea of shortening early‑round men’s matches to best‑of‑three sets. This proposal remains contentious, as many purists view five‑set matches as the soul of Grand Slam tennis.
US player Frances Tiafoe weighed in, saying, "I think for the men we should stick with three out of five. I don't know where the conversation is going, what people are leaning to. Everyone is going to have an opinion, everyone is different.
We've seen so many epics in five‑setters. Do I love five‑setters? Absolutely not.
There's a lot of times where I'm up two sets to love and I'd love to shake hands and go home. But it's tennis, man." The tournament will continue to be broadcast live on Sky Sports from August 30, with streaming options available on NOW and the Sky Sports app.
Fans can also catch the Laver Cup at The O2 in London from September 25‑27, also shown on Sky Sports. While the debate over late finishes is unlikely to be resolved overnight, Tiley’s commitment to the current day‑and‑night structure signals that the US Open will maintain its distinctive, high‑energy schedule for the foreseeable future.