“Your sleep schedule & everything is messed up” – Coco Gauff chides late-night finishes at Slams, welcomes…see more

Your sleep schedule & everything is messed up” – Coco Gauff chides late-night finishes at Slams, welcomes US Open’s new policy to combat issue

Coco Gauff is set to compete at the 2024 US Open as the defending champion after winning her maiden Grand Slam title last year. Ahead of the tournament, the American No. 1 praised the new policies introduced in New York this year, including one to avoid late-night matches for players.

Coco Gauff capped off her dream run at the 2023 US Open with a win over Aryna Sabalenka in the final. Gauff came back from a set down to defeat the Belarusian 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, becoming the first American teenage Grand Slam winner since 1999. She will be tasked with defending 2000 points at the 2024 US Open.The 20-year-old addressed a range of topics in her pre-tournament press conference on August 23. One of the journalists asked Gauff if having late-night finishes to night session matches at tournaments, particularly Grand Slams, is a problem and what could be done to address it.

While she hasn’t played any late-night matches herself, Gauff sympathized with her peers who have, especially men, who often play way past midnight during five-set matches at Majors. The American claimed that finishing matches late can ‘ruin’ a player’s tournament.
“Yeah, so I’ve never actually had a super late finish just because I’ve just been lucky that either the match will go super fast or anything like that. But obviously I do think that finishing late can really ruin your tournament, especially, like, on the guys’ side when they, you know, if they go on at, like, 11:00 or 12:00, you know, max maybe the longest a women’s match will go two hours or three hours, but men’s can go, like, five,” Gauff said.

Gauff added that playing late into the night can also mess up a player’s sleep schedule and put them at a “disadvantage” for the entire tournament. She also welcomed a new policy at the 2024 US Open that will move a match to a different court if its start time is pushed past 11:00 PM.
“I think for me I think I heard US Open this year if you’re going to start after 11:00 they’re going to move your court. I think that’s a good initiative to start. You may win that match that day but your sleep schedule and everything is completely messed up for the rest of the tournament. So it does put that person at a disadvantage,” she continued.