The US Open has become the Damn Slam that Never Stops as the City that Never Sleeps braced itself for violent storms and a possible tornado.
For the fifth year in a row the men’s final was put back to Monday, with Andy Murray the only real winner as fans were left furious and officials were accused of a scheduling balls-up.
“A tornado warning??? You cannot be serious,” American tennis great turned commentator John McEnroe tweeted after the second men’s semi-final was postponed on Saturday with Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer leading defending champion Novak Djokovic 5-2 with a service break in the opening set.
With a tornado watch in operation and severe thunderstorms predicted, Djokovic and Ferrer were asked to come back on Sunday for an 11am resumption after Murray had safely advanced with a 5-7 6-2 6-1 7-6 (9-7) victory over Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych.
The women’s singles final between three-times champion Serena Williams and world No.1 Victoria Azarenka, set for Saturday night, was also put back to 4.30pm on Sunday as savage winds wrought havoc at Flushing Meadows.
Play at the start of Saturday’s action had already been delayed by 90 minutes after heavy rain before gusts of around 100kph sent rubbish – and even Murray’s bag and chair at one point – blowing across centre court.
“They were brutal conditions, some of the hardest conditions I’ve ever played in before. I come from Scotland so that’s saying something,” Murray said after surviving to reach his fifth grand slam final.
Djokovic’s semi-final was abandoned for the day 32 minutes into the contest as tournament director David Brewer opted to evacuate fans.
“Severe weather is coming and we needed to give patrons time to get out of the stadium and into their cars,” he said.
Brewer told a later news conference: “We’re getting very tired of having Monday finals.”
He added that switching the second semi-final to Louis Armstrong Stadium and playing it simultaneously had been discussed as a means of getting both matches completed in time to allow for the final to be staged on Sunday as planned.
Talks were held with player representatives, security officials as well as the powerful broadcasters.
“The consensus was it would be most fair to try to get the matches played on Arthur Ashe if at all possible.
“We thought in fairness to ticket holders and our broadcast audience worldwide, it was the right thing to keep them both on Arthur Ashe. We were hoping we’d get them both in.”
The decision was greeted with boos from the crowd of 20,000 inside Arthur Ashe Stadium and general bemusement at the refusal of the organisers to move the Ferrer-Djokovic match.
The US Open’s showpiece Arthur Ashe Stadium does not have a roof.
At the other three grand slams, the Australian Open and Wimbledon both have courts with retractable roofs while the French Open will follow suit by 2016.
USTA officials announced a $US500 million renovation plan in June without a roof, claiming to do so was too costly on 23,700-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium.
