Coco Gauff: Finishing late can really ruin your tournament but US Open taking positive steps

Coco Gauff believes that a really late finish can ruin a Grand Slam run for a player although she hasn’t experienced one herself.

She added that men are much more likely to endure a late finish given that they play five-setters.

The US Open has had quite a few really late finishes notably in 2022 when Carlos Alcaraz beat Jannik Sinner in a five-set quarter-final that lasted more than five hours and concluded at 2:50 am, the latest finish in tournament history.

READ: Scars Still Fresh for Coco Gauff as She Reacts to the US Open Implementing Latest Technology Demanded by Her

“Yeah, so I’ve never actually had a super late finish just because I’ve just been lucky that either the match will go super fast or anything like that.

“But obviously I do think that finishing late can really ruin your tournament, especially, like, on the guys’ side when they, you know, if they go on at, like, 11:00 or 12:00, you know, max maybe the longest a women’s match will go two hours or three hours, but men’s can go, like, five.”

The US Open has announced that they would not be enforcing a curfew during this year’s competition, but they have decided to loosen their rules on match scheduling.

The Arthur Ashe evening session starts at 19:00 local time, and the tournament this year will follow suit.

The USTA has, however, officially said that in the event that matches are not underway by 11:15 p.m., the tournament referee will have greater discretion in deciding whether to transfer them to different courts for as long as this is feasible.

Gauff believes that is a step in the right direction from the US Open.

“I think for me I think I heard US Open this year if you’re going to start after 11:00 they’re going to move your court. I think that’s a good initiative to start. You may win that match that day but your sleep schedule and everything is completely messed up for the rest of the tournament. So it does put that person at a disadvantage,” Gauff reasoned.

“So I think right now with that new policy, I think that’s the best way to address it. I mean, we won’t know until we test a lot of things, but I think this is a good start.”

Gauff said that she doesn’t feel much different returning to Flushing Meadows as the reigning champion and her on-site preparation has felt the same.

“Not really, because I feel like I was in a crazy position last year where there was a lot surrounding me, like, before this, even before I was a Grand Slam champion,” She said when asked how if felt to come back as a winner.

“So, you know, I had basically the same busy pre-week this week as I had last year pre-week of US Open.

“So I think that’s where it was a little bit easier coming into all of this as a Grand Slam champion because of, like, the gradual rise I’ve had in this sport when it came to the amount of attention I was getting.

“Honestly, this week hasn’t been much different, other than people saying I’m the defending champion, but other than that, I feel like it’s been the same amount of attention and same amount of sponsor commitments and all that.”