Retired US Open champion Andy Roddick has defended the tournament's late-night scheduling after Ben Shelton's dramatic five-set win over Carlos Alcaraz finished shortly after 3:30am ET on Wednesday. The victory made Shelton the first American man to beat either Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner at a Grand Slam, and combined with Frances Tiafoe's five-set win over Alex Michelsen, it guaranteed an American finalist at the 2026 US Open for the first time since Roddick himself won the title in 2003. Roddick's comments, made on his "Served" podcast, came amid criticism of the tournament's logistics and the toll such late finishes take on players, spectators and broadcast staff.

Roddick argued that clearing and reseating 25,000 spectators safely makes an earlier start impractical, and noted that the schedule was constrained by the preceding Tiafoe-Michelsen match. While acknowledging podcaster Bill Simmons' complaint that five-hour matches are excessive, Roddick said he valued tennis's capacity for gruelling, long-form contests and was reluctant to shorten the format, even as he sympathised with those who had to stay up into the early hours or forgo sleep for work the next day. Tiafoe and Shelton are set to meet in the semi-final on Arthur Ashe Stadium's centre court on Friday.