Issue no. 21: US Open Butchers Scheduling Of Night Matches

Whoever is in charge of scheduling the tennis players that get to play at night in Arthur Ashe stadium at this year’s US Open sure has their finger on the pulse.

If the pulse was 2017/18, and their finger was a nub maybe.

First, fans were forced to watch Sloane Stephens play the first night on Ashe, where she lulled people to sleep with a lack of urgency and passion. Superior talent without those traits is what has defined her career.

Days later on Thursday evening, fans had to watch Naomi Osaka, who isn’t remotely close to reprising her championship form, and frankly underserving of that stage.

Her outfit garnered more interest than her lackluster performance.

ESPN producers desperate to keep eyeballs on the match, panned into the crowd to search for celebrity sightings.

They landed on New York Yankee captain, Aaron Judge.

Then Nick Kyrgios, who is pretending to be a court side analyst until he’s physically ready to return from injury, added something intelligent to the broadcast.

Referencing Judge’s athletic 6’7” frame, Kyrgios said the Yankee outfielder would easily be a top-10 tennis player today had he chosen to chase the yellow fuzzy ball instead of the cowhide leather one.

It’s no coincidence why American Ben Shelton is beginning to shred opponents. He doesn’t look like a tennis player. He’s an athlete first. A tennis player second.

The problem that tennis has had, and for way too long, is that coaches and clubs look to groom kids that already play and like tennis.

This couldn’t be more of a wrong approach. This is why American tennis specifically has been getting lapped by the rest of the world in the sport.

If athletes were sought out and turned into tennis players, you’d start to see real talent.

Then maybe tennis fans, especially the ones paying hundreds of dollars just to sit in the last row of a 24,000 seat stadium, won’t have to watch undeserving players grace tennis’ biggest stage.