{"id":361252,"date":"2024-01-19T23:11:38","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T00:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=361252"},"modified":"2024-01-20T04:03:27","modified_gmt":"2024-01-20T04:03:27","slug":"party-court-stitch-up-to-settle-major-open-headache","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=361252","title":{"rendered":"'Party court' stitch-up to settle major Open headache"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian wheelchair tennis<\/a> legend Dylan Alcott<\/a> has suggested a hilarious solution to the major scheduling headache facing the Australian Open<\/a> organisers.<\/p>\n

As they were on Friday, both Alex de Minaur<\/a> and Novak Djokovic<\/a> are scheduled to play on Sunday, with both strong candidates to be the headline men's match at 7pm on Rod Laver Arena.<\/p>\n

Djokovic hasn't played on any court other than RLA for six years \u2013 his last game on another court coming in the third round in 2018.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW LIVE:<\/strong> Australian Open day seven<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Ukraine star defiant message to Russian rivals<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0<\/strong>Then there was one: Demon's next rival revealed<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Even then, he was on Margaret Court Arena, where he beat Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

De Minaur, meanwhile, played his first two matches on RLA, but was bumped to John Cain Arena on Friday night so Djokovic could have RLA.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Nine's Weekend Today on Saturday morning at Melbourne Park, Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said it was a "big decision".<\/p>\n

"It's great to have him, as he was last year in the second week \u2026 we're going to make a decision today where it's going to be on the schedule," he said.<\/p>\n

"But it's going to be a great match."<\/p>\n

On Nine's coverage of the Australian Open, Sam Stosur said she didn't envy Tiley's position.<\/p>\n

"I think (De Minaur) is definitely worthy of an RLA match for sure \u2013 an Aussie crowd (to) try and get him into the quarters, and I'm sure he'd love a night crowd," she said.<\/p>\n

"But how do you not put Djokovic in that position?"<\/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><\/p>\n

\"Organisers<\/p>\n

Alcott suggested the solution was simple.<\/p>\n

"I think Novak has had 14-straight night matches here … tough one, if I was a betting man, I'd put Demon at 7pm (and) Novak on the party court, court six \u2013 he'd love that out there," he said.<\/p>\n

Court six features a two-storey courtside bar, as Australian Open organisers chase a 'Party Court' vibe similar to party holes that are becoming a regular feature at golf tournaments.<\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

The court has drawn criticism from players, but organisers have stated the court will remain a feature in years to come.<\/p>\n

"He might love it \u2013 it got him up the other night, a bit of crowd interaction," Alcott said of Djokovic playing on court six, before suggesting a much more likely solution.<\/p>\n

"I think they'll both be on RLA, but when, who knows."<\/p>\n

Demon is the last Australian left in both singles draws, and is facing Andrey Rublev. Djokovic will take on Adrian Mannarino, who has played three five-setters on his way to the fourth round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian wheelchair tennis legend Dylan Alcott has suggested a hilarious solution to the major scheduling headache facing the Australian Open organisers. As they were on […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":361254,"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\/361252"}],"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=361252"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":361256,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361252\/revisions\/361256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/361254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=361252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=361252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=361252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}