{"id":359338,"date":"2024-01-12T00:15:43","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T01:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=359338"},"modified":"2024-01-12T02:01:54","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T02:01:54","slug":"legends-selfish-issue-with-australian-open-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=359338","title":{"rendered":"Legend's 'selfish' issue with Australian Open change"},"content":{"rendered":"

American tennis<\/a> great John McEnroe<\/a> has labelled Tennis Australia's revised schedule this summer a "cash grab", while admitting it may be his "selfish" opinion on the topic.<\/p>\n

\ufeffThe governing body added an extra day to the 2024 Australian Open<\/a>, beginning this year's tournament on Sunday rather than Monday.<\/p>\n

The logic behind the decision is to avoid matches starting late and finishing late – following Andy Murray and Thanasi Kokkinakis playing until after 4am at last year's Open.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Aussie fan favourite reflects on singles career<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

EXCLUSIVE:<\/strong> Adelaide striker opens up on globetrotting career<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Former Melbourne star torches 'selfish' Demons<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The extra day is designed to spread the draw thinner across a slightly longer period.<\/p>\n

\ufeffMcEnroe, though, is not buying that line from Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"First of all, it's a money grab as far as I'm concerned," McEnroe said on ESPN.<\/p>\n

"They just found another way to make some money. I don't agree with it.<\/p>\n

"I'm a commentator. No one's particularly concerned about my feelings.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Australian Open live and exclusive on Nine, <\/strong><\/em>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and ad-free on <\/strong><\/em>Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

"The players, if they accept it and they're getting something from it, like some money for their pensions or retirement for some players that don't have insurance, I would say that's a good thing that they have added an extra day.<\/p>\n

"I don't think that has happened (players getting more money), just like it didn't happen at the French Open. I completely disagree with it."<\/p>\n

But McEnroe tempered his comments with the admission he begrudgingly \ufeffwill have to work an extra day while in Australia.<\/p>\n

"That's probably me being selfish that I have to be away from home an extra day or two," he said.<\/p>\n

McEnroe is in Melbourne to commentate for ESPN during the Australian Open.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American tennis great John McEnroe has labelled Tennis Australia's revised schedule this summer a "cash grab", while admitting it may be his "selfish" opinion on […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":359340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=359338"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":359341,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359338\/revisions\/359341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/359340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=359338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=359338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=359338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}