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She was considerably more diplomatic than Bernard Tomic, but women’s world No.3 Svetlana Kuznetsova echoed several of the Australian rising star’s scheduling concerns after advancing to the round of 16 at Melbourne Park.
Having dropped only seven games in her opening two matches, Kuznetsova was pushed to the wire by German qualifier Angelique Kerber before winning 3-6 7-5 6-4.
The Rod Laver Arena clash did not begin until after 11.35pm (AEDT) on Friday, with the reigning French Open champion clinching victory at 1.43am on Saturday.
For the first time, the Australian Open has followed the same procedure as the US Open in scheduling the better fixture first in the prime-time night session, rather than always beginning with the women.
“I don’t understand why we started to play after men anyway, I think it’s never happened before,” said Kuznetsova, whose match began after defending champion Rafael Nadal’s long four-set victory over German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
“We need equality, I know.
“The men complain, it sounds weird, but anyway it’s tough.
“I don’t think even men should play at two o’clock in the morning because, for me, I grew up in a sporting family and my parents always taught me to wake up at eight and to go to bed at 10.
“If I’m used to going to bed at 10, today I would go nuts.”
In past years, several leading male players have argued that as the women were getting equal prize money at grand slam tournaments, they should share the late finishes.
Kuznetsova agreed to have her third-round match against Kerber moved to an outside court had the Nadal-Kohlschreiber clash gone into a fifth set.
“But I was praying for Rafa to win in four sets because it’s much better to play in Rod Laver Arena than to play in Margaret Court Arena with nobody watching,” said the No.3 seed.
“At least people keep you up, your chin up, because you’re falling asleep there, you’re playing at two o’clock.
“At some point I had to remind myself I’m playing the Australian Open, it’s not just a regular tournament, you’ve got to be there, it’s very important.
“You kind of lose the importance of this big event.
“For Russia, it’s great. Now everybody can watch my match, but for me it’s two o’clock in the morning.”
Tomic’s epic second-round loss to No.14 seed Marin Cilic finished at 2.08am earlier in the week, after which the Australian slammed event organisers, saying it was ridiculous asking a 17-year-old to play at such a late hour.
He refused to apologise the following day, despite receiving a dressing-down from Open tournament director Craig Tiley.
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