By the time Sofia Kenin had defeated Venus Williams in straight sets, it was beyond 2am local time in New York
When Venus Williams was awarded a wildcard for the women's singles at the US Open, she was chosen for a primetime match slot in the first round – Sunday night, on Arthur Ashe, against compatriot Sofia Kenin in front of a home crowd for possibly the final time as a solo player.
But Williams and Kenin did not end up playing on Sunday. Instead they stepped on to court just after midnight on Monday, with Kenin completing a win in straight sets shortly after the clock struck 2am local time in New York.
Afterwards Williams described the scheduling as "not ideal" and said it "wasn't great" for either her or Kenin in terms of conditioning.
The 46-year-old – who lost her 15th singles match in a row, but is set to also play doubles at the tournament alongside sister Serena – is just one of a long list of players who have criticised the late running of matches at the Grand Slams in recent years.
So what exactly is behind the scheduling issues in tennis, what is to be gained from late starts, and will anything change in the near future?
Three of tennis' four Grand Slam tournaments – the Australian Open, Roland Garros and the US Open – operate a split schedule during their competitions, separating matches into day and night sessions.
At the US Open, this means organisers selecting two matches – one men's, one women's – to be played from 7pm in the heart of New York City, after the majority of play has already taken place during the day.
The logic behind building designated night-session matches into the schedule is simple – organisers can make more money.
That is because it makes it possible to sell twice as many tickets, with the same seat being bought by someone for the day session before somebody else pays for it to see the night session.
Night-session tickets are typically more expensive, both because the start time is deemed more attractive for spectators who can arrive after a day at a work, and because they typically feature higher-profile players.
Furthermore, creating the night session package makes TV rights much more lucrative.
The US Open is broadcast domestically by ESPN, who agreed a deal in 2024 to pay a whopping $2.04bn (£1.5bn) to show every single match at the tournament until 2037. That's $170m (£126m) per year.
American world number 10 Taylor Fritz has previously said there is "no chance" he can sleep until 5am or 6am after finishing a match at 2am
ESPN can charge higher prices for its TV advertising slots during primetime hours, which skew slightly later in the US than the UK, with some of the country's most popular late-night talk shows only starting around 11pm.
