I can't understand it they have had problems in finishing within daylight hours, yet Roland Garros still have a not before 12:30, that just doesn't make any sense to me surely they want to get the matches finished?
Usually for more high profile matches it's good to set a starting time. Audience at the stadium and at home will want to know when the big names are playing. I like it very much to know that a match I'm interested in will start at X o'clock not after three other games that could take 1h or 3h each.
It is favor for the players actually. They played until very late yesterday, they need at least know when they will start today so that they have proper rest. I like this rule.
This supposed to give more rest to the players involved (Verdasco and Gasquet in this case) which is literally stupid as it is the same for both players, imo they should even have started at 11 AM.
Just stop and think about this for a minute. Two players leave court at around 9:35PM. They have a post match routine of warm down, physio, etc + any media commitments. They then travel back to their hotel and have something to eat, a lengthy chat with the coach about how the match has gone and what they plan to do tomorrow. The a bit a down time to relax. After all this you are probably talking 1:00 AM at the earliest before they are in bed. They are probably going to want at least 6-7 hours sleep in order to be fresh for the following day. Then in the morning it is the whole pre match routine which probably means being up at least 3 hours before the match, breakfast, some time talking tactics with the coach, travel to the venue, warm up, 30 minutes hitting then a bit of time to mentally prepare. So while it is possible for a player to finish at 9:35PM and then start again at 11:00AM it is far from ideal. Therefore tournaments put them on second the next day to give them a bit more time and the "not before" tells them when the earliest is that they need to be ready. It is all perfectly sensible.
I don't think RG does it at all, aside from the instance(s) you cite today. It's more common at events where they have flexibility in terms of lights/night sessions.
RG only does it in the case of delayed matches I believe for the most part. Murray/Kohli, and Verdasco/Gasquet were carried over from yesterday so they give them extra rest knowing they don't have to play until 12:30 at the earlier.
Other tournaments who often actually aren't brain dead and thus they have lights often do it for TV purposes so people around the world know hen they will most likely play, also the players will know they don't have to play before a certain time.
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