Obviously, the ATP and WTA Tours did not ask fans if they thought having 1000-level tournament finals on a Monday was a good idea. I suspect they would not have liked the answer.
Fans are salivating over the Cincinnati Open men’s singles final between World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz. This will be their fourth meeting of the year, and none of us has fully recovered from the Roland Garros five-set instant classic.
Sinner is the Wimbledon champion, and he has been playing better than Alcaraz in his Cincinnati Open matches. However, Alcaraz can be a wizard who pulls out amazing shots and comebacks (like 2025 Roland Garros) so it is truly the battle of the current tennis titans.
All of this is great news except the match is at 3 PM EDT on Monday. US tennis fans, regardless of what time zone they are in, will most likely be at work.
Tennis Channel, who caters the US demographic, tried to make light of this excellent matchup coming at a bad time with a X/Twitter posted note.
What Tennis Channel Posted
Send this to your boss. pic.twitter.com/52VoVlVZx3
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) August 17, 2025
The idea is cute, but the reality is that tennis (ATP and WTA) are hurting themselves with this Monday final. Sinner and Alcaraz are perceived to be the next generation of tennis that will try to dominate like their forefathers, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal.
Getting fan support and excitement is the key to growing the sport, and Monday finals are not the way to do it.
A Monday final is just ABSOLUTELY BONKERS! @atptour @WTA I’m sure the @usopen isnt happy about it either. Detracting from fan week & possibly the mixed doubles tournament they’ve put a lot of money into & that fans have paid to see with those names. Tennis really needs a commish!
— Rennae Stubbs ♈️ (@rennaestubbs) August 17, 2025
Hopefully, this does not happen again. Tour calendars need to be revisited because the Thursday finals in Canada were not so great either. Finals should be on Saturday and Sunday with the possible exception of a rainy weekend that postpones play.
