No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic ripped the U.S. Open officials Saturday night on two scheduling issues after he advanced to the newly set Monday Final against Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic said he finds it lousy to have a Saturday-Monday format. arguing it hurts players heading directly to the Davis Cup as he will for Serbia. He also whined about being the first match on Saturday’s semifinal card.
Djokovic appreciates the extra day of rest with the scrapping of the Saturday/Sunday semifinal/final format but thinks it needs another alteration.
“I’m not in support of Monday final,’’ Djokovic said. “Hopefully we can have the Friday/Sunday like in every other Grand Slam. I don’t see why the U.S. Open should get an exception. Monday Finals doesn’t go in the favor of the players who are playing Davis Cup. It makes it much more difficult for me. The scheduling is something we have to make right.’’
Djokovic wasn’t done. His quarterfinal was the late-night match Thursday while Nadal last played Wednesday.
“Like today, I didn’t find it very fair to play at noon the first match and I want to bed at 3 a.m [Friday] after my quarterfinals where the other semifinalists had three days off,’’ Djokovic said. “I didn’t find any logic in that, to be honest. There are I guess influences that have more power than the players and that has to be changed.’’
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Tornado Black, the 15-year old American who has been making a name for herself in the Junior Girl’s U.S. Open, beat No. 7 seed Antonia Lottner, 7-5, 6-3, to advance to the finals Sunday. She has yet to drop a set and is looking for her first junior slam title after failing in the second round of the tournament last year. Black will face No. 2 seeded Ana Konjuh.