Rain may push both men's semifinals to Sunday
By Tom Perrotta
U.S. Open officials are hoping for a dry spell around 3:00 p.m. Friday afternoon, or else the tournament will conclude on Monday, at the earliest, for the second straight year, according to a spokesman.
If the weather cooperates, women’s semifinalists Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters would be first on Arthur Ashe Stadium Friday, followed by Yanina Wickmayer and Caroline Wozniacki. Though the men’s quarterfinal between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Gonzalez is currently scheduled for Ashe after the Williams-Clijsters match, it most likely will be moved to Louis Armstrong stadium, though not before 2:00 p.m.
Chris Widmaier, a spokesman for the USTA, said that on Wednesday, tournament officials seriously considered canceling Thursday evening’s night session and holding both men’s quarterfinals Thursday afternoon.
“Certainly we discussed it,” Widmaier said. “But you had guys who were preparing for the night. And we’ve got 23,000 fans who wanted to come and we thought we had a possible window.”
At around 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, the weather forecast became more dire and the USTA considered asking Nadal and Gonzalez to change their start time at the last minute. Before any plans could be made, an updated weather forecast suggested the match could be completed if it began just after 7:00 p.m. Nadal and Gonzalez played almost two full sets—and endured two lengthy rain delays—before being sent home around midnight. The winner of their match will play Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinals, currently scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
If Nadal and Gonzalez don’t complete their match Friday, however, both men’s semifinals would likely be moved to Sunday, Widmaier said, to prevent the other men’s semifinalists, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, from having a day of rest before Monday’s final. If the women do not complete their semifinals Friday, the tournament would have to hold the men’s semifinals and the women’s final on Sunday.
Fans who endured last night’s cold, rainy conditions are not eligible for a refund under U.S. Open tournament policy, which does not allow for refunds if a match is completed in an hour or more, or if fans see 90 minutes of tennis in that session. However, in the past the USTA has loosened its rules during particularly bad weather and offered those ticketholders passes to another session. Widmaier said no decision had been made about last night’s ticketholders.
After rain wreaked havoc on the final days of last year’s tournament, Arlen Kantarian, then the USTA CEO of professional tennis, said building a roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium was “a question of when, not if.” The USTA has yet to confirm a date for the roof’s arrival.
Tom Perrotta is a Senior Editor at TENNIS magazine. Follow him on Twitter.
