Ben Shelton's 3.33am US Open win puts five-set format back under scrutiny

Ben Shelton beat Carlos AlcarazCarlos AlcarazSpain · Singles in a US OpenUS OpenUnited States quarter-final that ended at 3.33am, after 4hr 28min on court. The first ball was struck at 11.05pm, and Shelton's clinching ace arrived more than four hours later. The finish is reported to be the latest in the tournament's history, beating the previous mark by 43 minutes.

The contest itself delivered what a night session is supposed to deliver: a quarter-final with real stakes, a tight scoreline and an American player coming through at the end. Shelton settled it with an ace in the small hours. What followed was not only a result but an argument about the shape of the sport.

Within hours, discussion had shifted away from how the match came to be scheduled so late and towards a broader question: whether matches of this length should exist at the grand slams at all. The proposal circulating among commentators and fans is to retire best-of-five and shorten the format.

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The argument for keeping five sets

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Commentary on the match has argued the opposite case, and forcefully: scrapping five-set tennis would be a serious error. On this view, the format is physically punishing and occasionally absurd, but it also produces much of what makes grand slam tennis worth watching — the endurance test that separates the majors from the rest of the calendar. Shortening matches, the argument runs, would trade the sport's biggest occasions for a tidier schedule.

Scheduling takes the blame

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Criticism has also focused on the USTA and the placing of the quarter-final in a night session. The match did not begin until 11.05pm, which set the floor for how late the evening could run regardless of how long the players took. That distinction matters: a shorter match might have finished earlier, but the start time, not the length of the contest, determined how far past midnight the tournament was willing to go.

What happens next

No change to the five-set format has been announced, and no formal proposal to alter it has been made public. It is not known whether the tournament or the sport's governing bodies intend to review the issue, or whether this finish will be treated as a one-off scheduling problem rather than evidence about the format itself.

Nor is it known where the players stand. Neither Shelton nor Alcaraz has set out a position on the length of grand slam matches, and the debate so far has been conducted largely in commentary and among spectators rather than by the bodies that would have to approve any change.

For now, the result stands on its own. Shelton's win sends him through to the semi-finals, while the argument about how late a grand slam match may legitimately run follows the tournament into the next round.