Winds of change at Flushing meadows.

Its almost looked impossible given the revenue from TV viewing, and the business oriented Heads of the USTA. But winds of change have finally arrived at Flushing meadows. In 2 years there is not going to be any Super-Saturday. 2015 US Open Men's semi-finals will be done on Friday and Finals on Sunday. Going by the news, Fed's talks and negotiations with USTA has a major something to do with all this.
USTA has also decided to increase the prize money in both men's and women's matches to $50m by 2017. I'm not sure how would the distribution go and what would happen for this year, but I assume the earlier rounds should see some significant increase in prize money ( a bit like what AO did this year).
Good work Fed.
Full news and report : http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/20/sport/tennis/tennis-us-open-federer/?hpt=isp_bn2

I think Fed's efforts to try to secure a better future for all the players,especially the lower ranked players could end up being his greatest legacy cause that impacts every player
Glad to hear that about the U.S open,I read somewhere that they were considering to schedule to mens final permanently for the Monday,I thought a move like that could hurt ratings

Good news...but promising higher revenue in 2017 (4 years from now) is not really committing to much.

Also when are they going to supress the super sat? 2015 0r 2016?

Yes it's all good news, just hope not too late....It reminds me of all these beautiful flat screen TVs everywhere now, technology has never been better, but there is virtually nothing to see on TV.

So, in 20 years, there will be a perfect calendar, perfect scheduling, more prize money than ever, but the game will resemble badminton more than tennis.

The main thing, are they planning to buy any raincovers, and not waist an extra hour on hand drying courts every time it rains...

Tenez wrote:Good news...but promising higher revenue in 2017 (4 years from now) is not really committing to much.

Yes, 4 years is a long time and unless it happens a promise is nothing more than words. Lets see.

Tenez wrote:
Also when are they going to supress the super sat? 2015 0r 2016?

It says 2015. So 2 more USopen with super saturdays.

noleisthebest wrote:The main thing, are they planning to buy any raincovers, and not waist an extra hour on hand drying courts every time it rains...

The AA stadium is so huge, I don't think it can have a retractable roof build on top of it. The Stadium wasn't designed keep rain in mind. So USTA will keep using cutting edge high tech methods like hand towels.

I love rain interruptions anyway. It makes finals more exciting and it's fairer for the rest of the field. A roof can be as advantageous as doping if we think about it.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:It says 2015. So 2 more USopen with super saturdays.

But those will be with Monday finals, right? If so, it is not so bad. A bit silly to finish on Monday but not all that horrible, really.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:The main thing, are they planning to buy any raincovers, and not waist an extra hour on hand drying courts every time it rains...

The AA stadium is so huge, I don't think it can have a retractable roof build on top of it. The Stadium wasn't designed keep rain in mind. So USTA will keep using cutting edge high tech methods like hand towels.

I didn't say roof, just rain covers, you know (tarpaulin) the same stuff they use in Wimbledon and RG. They cut out the drying time significantly and it makes a big difference to matches, when they are already delayed whether they are going to have an extra hour of a bunch of guys running around the court with hair-driers and towels....utterly ridiculous for any tournament, let alone for a slam with so much tradition!

summerblues wrote:

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:It says 2015. So 2 more USopen with super saturdays.

But those will be with Monday finals, right? If so, it is not so bad. A bit silly to finish on Monday but not all that horrible, really.

No No. This means that both men's semis will be done on Friday and finals on Sunday. We still can have a Monday final given the rains and everything, but having one of the semis played on Sat will be removed.