The US Open is getting longer as players already worry tennis tournaments are becoming too long

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Open was a week old by the time Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz opened their title defenses.

What once was a two-week quest for a Grand Slam championship now extends into a third week, and U.S. Tennis Association CEO Craig Tiley was asked how he hoped to continue that growth.

“Four weeks,” he said with a smile.

Some players might fear he is serious.

They were already becoming wary of an overcrowded schedule that makes it hard to find many breaks, even before the U.S. Open moved up the beginning of the singles main draw last year to make it a Sunday start.

“I just hope they will not start on Saturday at some point, you know? And then on Friday and on Thursday, Tuesday, Wednesday,” said Marta Kostyuk, the No. 11 seed from Ukraine. “So I hope this is it.”

Kostyuk was one of the winners Sunday, and those players get the benefit of two days off before their next matches. Sabalenka and Alcaraz started Monday, the former opening day, and top-seeded Alexander Zverev and 2023 champion Coco Gauff are scheduled Tuesday on the final day of a first round that until last year was completed over two days.

“So they’re finding ways to extend the tournaments, which I think is tough for the players,” said Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

Leylah Fernandez, the 2021 runner-up in Flushing Meadows, said she would enjoy the extra day off after her victory Sunday to spend time with her sister, who is in New York with her.

But Shapovalov, a 2021 Wimbledon semifinalist, argued that an extra day between matches doesn’t mean more time off.

“Being off is when you’re at home, able to sleep in your bed and not focus on tennis, right?” he said. “We’re still going to have to come back tomorrow, practice the next two days. You’re still in that match environment, tournament environment where I’m locked in and I’m not doing things that I would be doing when I’m off. You know, having a brownie.”

The expansion to a three-week event set in last year, when along with starting singles play on Sunday, the USTA shifted the mixed doubles tournament to a two-day event on the Tuesday and Wednesday preceding it. That was in hopes that top singles players would compete, which most of them wouldn’t when it was contested once their priority event began.

Another day was added to that this year with a qualifying tournament that was held Monday for the final two spots in the 16-team field. With more real matches beyond the singles qualifying tournaments that take place the week before, and admission to the grounds free, there were huge crowds for what the USTA calls “fan week,” and organizers clearly want more.

“This will become the tennis Disneyland,” Tiley said.

He stressed that doesn’t necessarily mean extending the length of the tournament, but by finding more types of events to do during it.

But extending events is exactly what tennis seems to be doing these days.

It's perhaps felt more at the Masters 1000 level, just below Grand Slams. Those have swelled to 10 days, so long that players have trouble keeping track of time. Tommy Paul was noting how well his fellow Americans performed at the recent ones in Montreal and Cincinnati, reaching the final weekend, when he caught himself.

“I say weekend. I think the finals in Montreal was, like, Wednesday or something,” Paul said.

Close. Ben Shelton won the title on a Thursday.

Some players point to the obvious, that longer tournaments mean shorter time to recover before the next event for those who do well. Frances Tiafoe got to the final in Cincinnati, then had to pull out of the mixed doubles, where he was supposed to partner with Fernandez, for more rest.

“To be honest, speaking in the locker rooms, I don’t think anybody’s a fan of how long the seasons in general are right now, fans of these three-day starts, fans of the 10-day Masters,” Shapovalov said. “You know, I think everything’s just gotten too long.”

See AP’s full tennis coverage here

Tennis fans watch a match between Miomir Kecmanovic, of Serbia, and Denis Shapovalov, of Canada, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Denis Shapovalov, of Canada, returns the ball to Miomir Kecmanovic, of Serbia, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Marta Kostyuk, of Ukraine, returns the ball to Storm Hunter, of Australia, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Chris Sale shut out the Dodgers and threw a 100 mph fastball in the process.

You could call it turning back the clock, but that would imply the Atlanta left-hander's best days are behind him. And that's hardly the case.

Sale struck out 11 in a five-hitter Thursday night, lowering his ERA to 2.06. Only Jacob Misiorowski's (1.73) is better, and Sale may be the only one capable of pushing the Milwaukee ace in the Cy Young race. At the very least, Sale has a good chance to post his eighth top-five finish in a Cy Young vote. He won in 2024, his first season with the Braves.

Thursday's 1-0 win over Los Angeles was Sale's first complete game since 2019 and included his first time reaching 100 mph on a pitch since 2018. He was with Boston then, wrapping up a stretch of seven straight years (2012-18) finishing in the top six in the Cy Young vote. But a poor 2019 was followed by Tommy John surgery, and Sale's future looked uncertain.

Since the Red Sox traded him to Atlanta for Vaughn Grissom, however, Sale has been an elite pitcher again. He finally won that elusive Cy Young in 2024, going 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA. He was 7-5 with a 2.58 ERA in 21 games last season, and this year he's on pace to post an ERA under 2.20 for the third time as a starter. He also did that in 2014 with the Chicago White Sox and 2018 with Boston.

The 37-year-old Sale doesn't have as much Cy Young hardware as Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer, but if he can pitch into his 40s like they have, his Hall of Fame case could look pretty solid. His career wins above replacement total — per Baseball Reference — is roughly the same as CC Sabathia's. And Sabathia was voted in on the first ballot.

Sale is under contract with Atlanta for next season, and the Braves have a team option for 2028.

Sale's only second-place finish in the Cy Young vote came in 2017. Who beat him out?

While Sale tries to prevent Misiorowski from running away with the Cy Young Award, Pete Crow-Armstrong is putting in quite a claim for the National League MVP. He hit three homers with six RBIs for the Chicago Cubs in a 17-5 win over Cincinnati on Saturday. Then the following day he went deep two more times. Crow-Armstrong is up to 38 homers on the year, just two shy of Kyle Schwarber's major league-leading total.

The Reds scored seven runs in the top of the ninth to beat San Francisco 10-9 on Wednesday. Héctor Rodríguez led off the inning with a homer to make the score 9-4. Then a single and two walks loaded the bases for Eugenio Suárez, whose grand slam brought Cincinnati within a run with still nobody out. Jose Trevino eventually tied it with a sacrifice fly, and Tyler Stephenson's RBI single gave the Reds the lead.

The Braves were baseball's only unbeaten team this week, going 6-0. They continue to hold Philadelphia at arm's length in the NL East, leading the division by five games after Matt Olson's walk-off single against Colorado on Sunday extended Atlanta's winning streak to seven.

The Braves swept three straight games against the Dodgers, winning each by a run. One of them was Sale's gem. Another came on a walk-off single by pinch-hitter Ha-Seong Kim.

Cleveland's Corey Kluber won it that year.

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sale, right, celebrates after winning a baseball game shutout against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser)

Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sale (51) celebrates with catcher Drake Baldwin after Sale won a complete game shutout of the Los Angeles Dodgers during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser)