Open considers Monday final for men

Last month's fourth consecutive rain-delayed U.S. Open final and long-standing player complaints over the compacted schedule of the tournament's final weekend have provided the watershed moment for event officials to consider a revised calendar that could permanently move the men's championship final to Monday.

U.S. Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier Wednesday confirmed that Open officials have received permission from the USTA board of directors to "explore the options" for various schedule changes.

Those include collapsing the first two rounds of the men's competition from three to two days, moving the men's semifinals from the second Saturday to the second Friday or keeping those semis on Saturday and pushing the final to Monday. Also on the table, but far less likely, would be a Sunday -- rather than Monday -- start to the two-week tournament.

The Open is the only one of the three Grand Slam events that does not build in an off-day between the semifinals and finals, for both men and women, a set-up criticized by players for decades but one favored by CBS-TV, which has been televising the Open since 1968 and recently extended its contract through 2014.

As rain forced postponements and matches began to tailgate each other heading into this year's final weekend, an old argument -- whether the USTA could or should erect a roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium -- was drowned out by the top-ranked men calling again to ditch the back-to-back semifinal-final format. The men in one half of the draw this year were facing the possibility of playing four matches in four days before a USTA decision to move their final to Monday.

Two of the other three Grand Slams -- the Australian Open and Wimbledon -- have been able to avoid similar problems because their primary courts have retractable roofs.

"This is the fourth year in a row we're playing a Monday final," five-time Open champion Roger Federer said at the time. "Might as well just make it a Monday final, right? Without the roof, I just don't think Saturday-Sunday is feasible any longer. It shouldn't happen anymore. I don't think TV should dictate . . . "

Open officials insist that television is not the only factor. "The fan dynamic is most certainly an important one, as well," Widmaier said. "[But], obviously, with the growing physicality of the game, it's important to listen to the players and start considering the options."