Carlos Alcaraz Frustrated by 3:30 a.m. US Open Finish: 'Too Much'

Carlos Alcaraz expressed his displeasure with the scheduling of his recent US Open quarterfinal, which ended at 3:33 a.m., during a press conference in London on Thursday. The match against Ben Shelton went into a marathon five sets, setting a new record for the latest finish in US Open history, beating the previous mark of 2:50 a.m. set in 2022.

Alcaraz highlighted the toll such a late finish takes on a player’s recovery, saying, "For an athlete finishing at 3:30 in the morning, it means we had to leave the courts at 4:30, then back to the hotel. You don't go to bed until 6:30 or 7 in the morning. To recover for the next match, the person you play has an advantage."

Match Delays and Scheduling Issues

The quarterfinal clash was delayed after a chain reaction from earlier matches that pushed the start time to about 8:20 p.m., more than an hour behind schedule. This delay contributed to the match dragging into the early hours.

Alcaraz lamented the impact this had on the audience, explaining that many fans likely missed the intense match because of the late hour. He said, "It is a shame a match like this didn’t reach a lot of people because they have to go to bed, they have to work in the morning. If that match had started at 7 or 8 p.m., at the maximum finishing at 11, the stadium would have been packed. A lot had to miss it because of the schedule."

Viewership and Official Response

Despite the late timing, ESPN still averaged 1.3 million viewers for the Alcaraz-Shelton match. The US Tennis Association director, Craig Tiley, addressed concerns about late finishes when speaking to Sky Sports, stating, "I hear from a lot of people that it finishes too late and then I say, OK, and your suggestion is? I don’t get anything. You can’t control the length of the match."