Martina Navratilova backs idea of USTA getting fined for poor scheduling decision after Aryna Sabalenka's controversial late-night finish

Martina Navratilova backed the idea of USTA being fined due to poor scheduling as Aryna Sabalenka created a record for the latest-ever start at the US Open. The American echoed journalist Jon Wertheim's opinion of fining the USTA for not moving the World No. 2's match to another stadium.

Sabalenka's match against Ekaterina Alexandrova made history as it started after midnight, which became the latest-ever finish in the US Open's history. The match ended at 1:48 am local time.

After the match, a fan opined that USTA should be handed a fine for making the Belarusian play her third-round match so late.

The fan wrote:

"The USTA should be fined for not moving the Sabalenka match. Of course you won't write about that."

Wertheim replied:

"Consider this retweet “writing”….tennis was great yesterday; scheduling not so much."

Martina Navratilova endorsed this tweet by retweeting.

Source- Martina Navratilova's X handle

Ahead of the start of the tournament, USTA announced a policy that if a match did not start by 11:15 pm, it would be moved to another court. However, the policy was not put into action during the Sabalenka late scheduling controversy.

According to the Associated Press, a decision to reschedule was going to be taken at the end of the fourth set of Novak Djokovic's match against Alexei Popyrin. As the match ended in a four-set upset by the Aussie, the Sabalenka vs Alexandrova match was greenlighted for Arthur Ashe Stadium.

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Aryna Sabalenka speaks about managing the time delay before her third-round match at the 2024 US Open

Aryna Sabalenka through to the fourth round at the 2024 US Open (Image: Getty)

Aryna Sabalenka spoke about managing the late start to her third-round match at the 2024 US Open. During her on-court interview, the World No. 2 joked that she was praying that Djokovic vs Popyrin would not go to the fifth set. She also questioned the one-hour 20-minute gap between the two matches.

"I was praying that they’re not going to play so long. But yeah, it was interesting decision, in between matches, to have this like one hour 20 minutes gap. I was like no way. I am going to start at midnight and that’s actually what happened," Sabalenka said.

Sabalenka said the situation was tricky but she tried to relax with her team.

"That was tricky but we just stayed with the team. We try to kind of like relax and pretend that the match was going to be in five hours, just chill. Don’t think about that. Then right before the match, we did our warm up and we hope for the best," she said.

Aryna Sabalenka will now take on Elise Mertens for a place in the quarterfinals.