Melbourne Rome - The Australian Open women's final next January will join the men's event as a night-time attraction as officials announced the controversial scheduling change on Saturday. The Grand Slam becomes the first to stage both showcase finals under the lights, with research being used as the basis for the modification.
"Our research has shown that the Australian tennis public would prefer the women's singles final to be played at night," said Tennis Australia head Craig Tiley,without elaboration.
The move will strip away the final's traditional summer afternoon time slot as it joins the men's event, which moved to a Sunday night in 2005 and now finishes at midnight or later before a work day.
The move will do little to sooth critics of the intense scheduling whirl which characterizes the event.
In a move which still reverberates five months later, a third-round match featuring Lleyton Hewitt against Marcos Baghdatis was controversially started at nearly midnight and did not finish until nearly 5 a.m.
Since that marathon, Hewitt has played just eight ATP events as he now faces the possible prospect of surgery for a hip problem.
