Samantha Stosur criticizes how the U.S. Open handled the scheduling of her semifinal match, which was played on the Grandstand court, while the other three semifinals that took place on Saturday were played on Ashe stadium.
"Given the circumstances, I wasn't too impressed with the scheduling the way everything had turned out," said Stosur after defeating Angelique Kerber in three sets. "I mean, I understand it's a tricky situation, but, you know, I think things could have been done a little bit differently or communication could have been better to express why things were gonna happen the way they happened."
A backlog of men's matches because of rain resulted in the women's semifinals being moved from Friday to Saturday, and the men's final from Sunday to Monday, leaving four semifinals to be played on Saturday. With television coverage of the men's semifinals beginning at 12:00 p.m. and the women's at 8:00 p.m., organizers put only three matches on Ashe stadium and did not release a court or start time for Stosur's semifinal when the schedule was orignally released. With Louis Armstrong stadium unplayable because of water seeping through to the court, the match eventually took place at 6:00 p.m. on Grandstand, the third-largest court.
"In the end, Grandstand is a fantastic court; it was a great atmosphere out there and I loved every second of it. That wasn't the point. I was just trying to stick up for what I thought was the right thing, and unfortunately it didn't happen," said Stosur.
But with the men's matches running long and Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki not getting on court till 10:00 to play the other women's semifinal, Stosur was happy to have finished her match early.
"I think obviously now that hasn't turned out the way they wanted it either, so it's one thing after another," said Stosur. "I felt we had disadvantage before this match, considering Caroline and Serena were told they were going to start at 8:00 before we even had a start time and a court. So everything is kind of gone a little crazy and haywire. I guess, yeah, I will be back in my hotel while they are still playing, which is a good thing."
Serena, who will meet Stosur in the final, added: "I think maybe the women could have played before the men, seeing we had to play tomorrow. This is also supposed to be a women's match tonight, Saturday at 8:00. So I don't really know. It's kinda hard to say."