Paolo Bertolucci urges Jannik Sinner and his teammates: “They should rebel”

During the recently concluded U.S. Open, we saw matches played late at night, and many fans complained. Even some players spoke out against the organizers, but according to Paolo Bertolucci, more needs to be done, and the former tennis champion wanted to offer some advice to Jannik Sinner and his fellow players.

“The players complain but then do nothing—maybe they don’t answer questions from the press: that’s their form of protest. I find all this absurd; they should get their act together and go talk to the decision-makers, saying, ‘At midnight, no matter what the score, we’re leaving the court.’ They just need to follow Wimbledon’s example—there’s no need to invent anything.”

“How can you play at 3:00 or 3:30 in the morning?” Bertolucci asked on the podcast ‘La Telefonata’. “You have to give 100 percent, and that’s impossible under those conditions. There isn’t a single sport in the world that forces its athletes to perform at such hours.”

In the hours following the match between Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz, which ended at 3:30 a.m., the Sky commentator harshly criticized the organizers with an eloquent tweet: “They’ve decided to kill tennis. Over four hours of play ending at 3:30 a.m. Then they get upset about absences due to injuries. Shame!!!”

Speaking to *Corriere dello Sport*, Adriano Panatta agreed with his friend: “Playing tennis at those hours, especially after very long matches, isn’t an ideal situation for the athletes. The players’ health must come first, and I believe tennis needs to reflect on this issue.”