Venus Williams's first-round US Open match against Sofia Kenin began after midnight local time and finished past 2am, prompting Williams to criticise the scheduling as "not ideal" for either player's conditioning. The incident has reignited long-running player complaints about late-night sessions at Grand Slam tournaments, highlighting a persistent tension between broadcaster demands and player welfare.

Three of the four Grand Slams—the Australian Open, Roland Garros and the US Open—use split day/night schedules, largely because doubling ticket sales and securing lucrative TV deals generates significant revenue; ESPN pays $170m (£126m) a year to broadcast the US Open under a $2.04bn deal running to 2037. Wimbledon avoids this by playing 11am to 11pm with unfinished matches resuming the next day, partly because the BBC's coverage is not advertising-dependent. Players such as Taylor Fritz have described being unable to sleep for hours after finishing matches in the early hours, while tournament organisers, including US Open director Stacey Allaster, have defended the current approach as beneficial for fans despite reviewing alternatives such as an earlier 6pm start.