Foot Fault!

Yesterday, after the numerous complaints and threats from the top ATP players, the USTA finally decided to listen to them. They decided to reschedule the final two days of the event, with the two semifinals on Saturday and the women and men finishing on Sunday and Monday respectively. Sounds good, right?

Wrong.

The problem is that to cater for the men’s demands, the women have been shunted aside instead. Now with the new order of play, the female players be forced to play their semifinals in the evening, the winners completing all their press obligations that come with reaching a slam final before a quick turnaround the very next day to play the final. And in addition, it means that only one semifinal will even appear on Arthur Ashe, with Stosur once again dumped onto grandstand.

Naturally, there has been outrage from around the tennisphere. Judging by the hilarious use of her CAPS LOCK, Sam Stosur certainly wasn’t pleased with the decision.

And neither was WTA CEO Stacey Allaster;

“We believe that both women’s semifinal matches merited being scheduled on Arthur Ashe stadium at times that would allow our athletes to be best prepared for a great women’s final on Sunday.”

The USTA recognized the criticism they were recieving and interestingly chose to respong with an official statement. A tidbit being;

“Though not ideal, by beginning the Kerber-Stosur match at 6 p.m., we can provide an opportunity for some of our fans to watch that match.”

The keyword being “some”. Just as I said after Stosur and Kirilenko were moved, it shouldn’t just be “some”. It should be all fans who are given the opportunity to watch these great athletes in the semi-final of one of the greatest events in tennis - both those who bought tickets to Women’s semifinal day expecting to see two matches, and those watching on their TV sets at home.

Moreover, as Allaster pointed out, it’s not just about the fans. It’s also about the two athletes who are US Open semifinalists and deserve to be treated with the respect that has been given to the other six. This latest move from the US Open is nothing but disrespectful.

Last year, Feliciano Lopez famously branded this event the ‘US shit Open’, and after the last two weeks which have seen embarrassment after embarrassment for both the organisers and event in general, it’s hard not to agree with him.