Craig Tiley, the newly appointed chief executive of the United States Tennis Association, has publicly confirmed that the tournament will continue to feature two daytime matches and two evening matches at Flushing Meadows beginning in 2027. Tiley, who stepped into the USTA leadership role after a decade at the helm of Tennis Australia, told Sky Sports Tennis that he sees no reason to alter the existing schedule, despite recent controversy surrounding extremely late finishes. The debate was reignited after Ben Shelton’s marathon five‑set quarter‑final against Carlos Alcaraz stretched until 3:33 a.m.
local time on a Wednesday night. The nearly five‑hour encounter left the majority of spectators still in bed, yet the match itself became a talking point for fans and players alike, highlighting the excitement that night tennis can generate under the bright lights of New York City’s premier Grand Slam. Historically, the US Open has set several late‑night records.
In the first six days of the current edition, three matches concluded after 2 a.m., and two additional contests ran past 1 a.m. These statistics sit alongside a growing chorus of players demanding better working conditions, higher prize money, and more reasonable scheduling.
Late finishes have emerged as a flashpoint in these broader discussions about the welfare of touring professionals. Other Grand Slam events have already taken steps to curb overly late play.
Wimbledon enforces an 11 p.m. curfew, while the French Open limits night sessions to a single match per day. The Australian Open, like the US Open, has faced criticism for late endings, but the New York tournament has been slower to impose hard limits, arguing that many New Yorkers rely on evening sessions after work and that the tournament must accommodate both day‑time and night‑time crowds.
Tiley addressed the issue directly, acknowledging that fans and players complain about matches that run into the early hours. 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.
What's really interesting is in the last ten years the amount of tennis from when you hit a point to when a point stops has been about the same. But the length of the matches on the men's side has increased by an average of about 25 minutes. That's because we now have the shot clock so everyone is taking their time, and we have the towels here which takes a bit more time and so the whole length of it is a bit longer. Not that much longer, but in fact the average time of the men's matches today is still not in the top four average times in the last ten years.
While it feels really late, the reality is you've got to go and look at the data. But that being said, no one wants to finish at 3.30 a.m. in the morning, although the rest of the world in the daytime saw a pretty amazing match." He continued, "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." The US Open’s social media accounts responded to the Shelton‑Alcaraz marathon with a light‑hearted fill‑in‑the‑blank post, encouraging fans to ask their employers for time off to watch the late‑night drama. 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 quarter‑final, and ______ was a fully committed fan who was completely locked in from start to finish." Beyond adjusting start times, another proposal that surfaces whenever late finishes dominate the conversation is to shorten men’s matches in the early rounds to best‑of‑three sets. This suggestion is controversial because many purists view five‑set matches as a defining characteristic of Grand Slam tennis. Former US Open champion Frances Tiafoe weighed in, saying, "I think for the men's 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 broader context includes ongoing negotiations between the ATP, WTA, and tournament organizers about player welfare.
Late‑night matches not only affect sleep schedules but also impact travel logistics, especially for players who must fly across time zones for the next week’s events. Some analysts argue that the US Open could experiment with a slightly earlier evening kickoff, perhaps at 6:30 p.m., to give spectators enough time to arrive after work while still preserving the electric atmosphere of night tennis. Nevertheless, Tiley remains firm that the current format—two matches during daylight hours and two after dark—delivers the most value for fans, broadcasters, and sponsors. The dual‑session model creates multiple viewing windows, maximizes ticket sales, and provides a balanced showcase for both men’s and women’s competition.
It also aligns with the tournament’s branding as the most entertaining and unpredictable of the four majors. As the 2026 edition draws to a close, the US Open will continue to be broadcast live on Sky Sports from August 30, with additional streaming options available via NOW and the Sky Sports app. The tournament’s schedule, results, and highlights—including Alexander Zverev’s warning to rivals, his eventual victory over Ben Shelton, and the British doubles and wheelchair champions—remain a focal point for tennis enthusiasts worldwide. In summary, while the conversation about late finishes will undoubtedly persist, Craig Tiley has signaled that the US Open will retain its beloved day‑and‑night structure for the foreseeable future, trusting that the excitement of marquee matches under the lights outweighs the occasional inconvenience of a match that stretches into the early morning hours.