Alexander Zverev criticizes US Open semi-final scheduling

By the Editorial Team · Friday, September 11, 2026

Alexander Zverev criticized the US Open men’s semi-final scheduling for giving his opponent more rest time, despite advancing to the last four with a straight-sets win over Botic van de Zandschulp. The early match time for Zverev’s semi-final against Karen Khachanov contrasts with the later scheduling of American players, reflecting the organizers’ preference and raising concerns about fairness in recovery time.

Alexander Zverev has expressed dissatisfaction with the scheduling of the US Open men’s singles semi-finals, highlighting the disadvantage of having less rest than his eventual opponent. The German top seed advanced to the last four on Wednesday with a straight-sets victory over Botic van de Zandschulp, winning 6-2, 7-5, 6-1. This victory marked Zverev’s 23rd Grand Slam match win this season, surpassing Boris Becker’s previous German record of 22.

Zverev is set to face Russia’s Karen Khachanov on Friday in the semi-finals. Their match is scheduled as the early session, with the US Open organizers opting to place the two American semi-finalists, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton, in the evening spotlight. Both Tiafoe and Shelton completed their quarter-final matches a day before Zverev, although Shelton’s win over defending champion Carlos Alcaraz concluded in the early hours of the morning at 3:30 a.m. local time.

Speaking at a news conference, the 29-year-old Zverev described the scheduling arrangement as unusual and noted the impact of the uneven rest period. “I find it a bit strange that people who have had two days off are now playing after us,” he said. “I have never experienced that in my 12 years on tour. It is what it is. There are two Americans in the semi-finals, I can understand that they want to play in the evening.”

On court, Zverev was tested most significantly in the second set against van de Zandschulp, where he saved a set point before regaining control to close out the match in two hours and 17 minutes. This marks the third time Zverev has reached the US Open semi-finals, having previously gone that far in 2020 and 2021. He also noted his progress throughout the tournament, expressing optimism about advancing further.

This season, Zverev has reached the semi-finals or better at all four Grand Slam events for the first time in his career. He attributed this improvement partly to the best-of-five set format at Grand Slams, which allows him more opportunities to recover from slow starts. “In other tournaments, I would have been out in the first round and here I can fight back, play best-of-five, play for four and a half hours and somehow win the match and somehow get into the tournament,” he said.

Zverev also commented on the challenges of adjusting to match timings at Flushing Meadows, noting the difficulties posed by late-night matches. He joked about feeling jetlagged and likened his experience to competing at the Australian Open instead of the US tournament, mentioning that he stayed up late to watch Shelton’s marathon quarter-final against Alcaraz, which ended well after midnight.

This article was reported by synthesizing coverage from multiple independent news outlets to present a balanced, unbiased account. Read about our editorial standards. Spotted an error? Let us know.