US Open chief executive Craig Tiley has confirmed that the tournament will maintain its dual day-and-night session structure at Flushing Meadows for the 2027 edition. The announcement comes in the wake of Ben Shelton’s grueling five-set victory over Carlos Alcaraz, which concluded at 3:33am local time on Wednesday.
Tiley, who assumed leadership of the USTA earlier this year after a long tenure at Tennis Australia, stated he has no intention of altering the current scheduling model. The marathon encounter between Shelton and Alcaraz was only the latest in a series of late finishes, with the first six days of the 2026 event already producing three matches ending after 2am and two others extending past 1am.
The issue of exhausted schedules has become a focal point in broader discussions among top players regarding prize money, welfare, and working conditions. While other Grand Slams have implemented restrictions—Wimbledon enforces an 11pm curfew and the French Open limits night sessions to a single match—the US Open has faced scrutiny for its later hours.
Tiley acknowledged the feedback from stakeholders but noted the logistical challenges of shifting evening start times. He explained that later starts accommodate fans in New York who wish to attend matches after their workdays. Regarding the length of play, Tiley pointed out that while men’s matches have grown longer by an average of 25 minutes over the past decade due to the shot clock and towel protocols, this has not pushed recent averages into the top four longest matches in the last ten years.
“No one wants to finish at 3:30am in the morning, although the rest of the world in the daytime saw a pretty amazing match,” Tiley said. “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 debate over potential reforms has also reignited discussion about shortening men’s matches to best-of-three sets in earlier rounds. However, American star Frances Tiafoe defended the traditional five-set format. “I think for the men’s we should stick with three out of five,” Tiafoe said. “We’ve seen so many epics in five-setters. Do I love five-setters? Absolutely not… But it’s tennis, man.”
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