Good to see a very positive press conference from Cam, who said how much he enjoyed the match, how he is encouraged by improvements in his game and is looking for more!

Djokovic and Fritz one set all after 2 hours 33 mins. If those goes 5 its going to be a long one!

JonH comes home wrote:

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More importantly, they could well not finish this til gone 8 or 9 pm local. There are still two evening matches to start. Once again, late finishes!

Aussie Open needs to sort this. The last match could well be starting after midnight let alone finishing !

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 Put 1 male and female singles match on the main two courts? Then some doubles/legends etc? 

I can understand not wanting to start a quarterfinal at 11am. Don't think any Slam does. Thry should probably have started at 12:00. But they were unlucky that the two singles matches lasted 7 hours.

Overall I think reducing the number of daytime matches on Rod Laver Arena from three to two has worked well, apart from the day affected by rain. But honestly the template for the schedule is based on the average length of a match (which has been reported as 2h50 for men, and 1h20 for women). As soon as you get eight long sets, particularly at night, there are going to be issues. The only solution is to play one match at night, something that will never happen in Melbourne or New York.

Coup Droit wrote:

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9vicman wrote:

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I can understand not wanting to start a quarterfinal at 11am. Don't think any Slam does. Thry should probably have started at 12:00. But they were unlucky that the two singles matches lasted 7 hours.

Overall I think reducing the number of daytime matches on Rod Laver Arena from three to two has worked well, apart from the day affected by rain. But honestly the template for the schedule is based on the average length of a match (which has been reported as 2h50 for men, and 1h20 for women). As soon as you get eight long sets, particularly at night, there are going to be issues. The only solution is to play one match at night, something that will never happen in Melbourne or New York.

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 A tournament umpire usually allows 1hr 30 for a women's match (or a man's three-setter); that's the standard/norm (debatable whether it should be the same but that's the norm)

And then you have to add the changeover - which takes longer at Grand Slams than ITFs or whatever - people further away - more linespeople, ballboys etc to sort out and get together  

So it's basically 2 hours. So I don't see a three hour match being a particularly big deal.

The AO obviously has financial considerations that they prioritise. And, as a spectator in Europe, I'm grateful. If the Players' Council or local residents or whoever want to jump up and down, they can but I'm not sure it's going to make much difference (or that they're going to do it anyway)  

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 As mentioned elsewhere the time for mens matches has increased a lot, average games at top level are 4 1/2 to 5 mins per game and with lots of matches lasting 4 or 5 sets, we are getting lots of mens matches at 4 hours or more.

if the average slam match is 4 sets, lets say 45 games, the average match will be over 3 hours. Im sure there are actual stats to analyse this somewhere 

for me the issue isnt the local fans. so be it. But the players finishing at 2 or 3 am isnt good for them. And the ball boys and linespeople, tournament staff also, not a good thing. 

not sure it will change at all though ! 

Coup Droit wrote:

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I really think that the linespeople etc can survive a couple of nights a year finishing at 2 or 3 am, instead of midnight

And it's obviously not such a big deal for the players as, seemingly, both sets of players waiting were given the chance to move onto the Margarte Court arena, and both pairs said 'no' so I guess they didn't care too much about the late finish either

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 Well if its not the players creating the rhetoric of late finishes being bad, who is it? Cos the noise is there - is it just the press? 

serious question - theres a lot of noise, someone doesnt like it ! 

Coup Droit wrote:

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JonH comes home wrote:

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Coup Droit wrote:

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I really think that the linespeople etc can survive a couple of nights a year finishing at 2 or 3 am, instead of midnight

And it's obviously not such a big deal for the players as, seemingly, both sets of players waiting were given the chance to move onto the Margarte Court arena, and both pairs said 'no' so I guess they didn't care too much about the late finish either

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 Well if its not the players creating the rhetoric of late finishes being bad, who is it? Cos the noise is there - is it just the press? 

serious question - theres a lot of noise, someone doesnt like it ! 

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 John McEnroe

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 Its not just him though, is it. Yeah, hes a cheerleader but many other commentators from the likes of Henman to Morgado are saying it isnt right!