Tennis

2023 US Open draw set to be held privately again – three reasons this must be changed

The draw for the US Open is set to be held on Thursday, August 24th. Yet while fans were hopeful that the US Open would change their closed-door draw creation this year, it seems as though this won’t be the case. This obviously raises a few concerns for players and fans, and the US Open is the only Grand Slam that doesn’t live stream the draw in real-time. In fact, they don’t televise the creation of the draw whatsoever – not even on a replay! 

2023 US Open draw

So naturally, with the US Open 2023 draw due to be made over the next 24/48 hours, the fury relating to the closed-door conduction of the draw has once again surfaced. If you think about it, it’s perfectly understandable for fans to be outraged about the lack of transparency surrounding the draw. After all, with the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon all streaming their draws via YouTube and on their own respective sites, one has to wonder – why does the US Open still refuse to do so?

In my opinion, the pressure that the US Open faces each and every year for this will ultimately lead to changes in the near future. However, such changes will not be realized for the 2023 edition of the US Open draw. And on that note, since I am on the side of the fans that would like to see the draw be made, I’ve chosen to highlight three reasons that such changes need to occur. Ideally, these changes need to be made sooner rather than later, and I’ve explained why below.

The understandable frustration of a closed US Open 2023 draw process

Before I dive into these three reasons for changing the process of creating the US Open draw, I would like to clarify something. In my opinion, I firmly believe that the 2023 US Open draw will be conducted fairly and openly. This means that I am confident that the tournament organizers will follow the correct procedure and protocols for creating the draw. However, just because I believe that this is the case, the fact that the draw isn’t done publicly does cause inevitable issues for fans and skeptics. 

On that note, let me reveal the three problems that arise with the 2023 US Open draw being done behind closed doors.

No proof of random selections

If you have ever watched a Grand Slam draw being made, you may have an idea of how things work. However, if you have never watched a Grand Slam be made, I should clarify how this is typically done so that this first problem makes sense. Basically, when creating a draw, the top seeds are placed in specific sections of the draw, first and foremost. This is done manually so that there is zero chance that the top seeds can face each other before certain rounds. 

But beyond that, names are drawn at random and inserted into the draw. Of course, this is where the problem arises concerning the 2023 US Open draw. Essentially, after the top US Open 2023 seeds have been inserted into their respective positions, fans then have no idea whether the other players are inserted at random. And this opens up a whole can of worms that has a direct influence on the next issue.

Facilitates conspiracies of ‘rigging’ the draw

As you can probably imagine, since fans are not able to watch the draw being conducted, there is no proof of randomization. Naturally, there are some tennis fans that are more skeptical of this particular issue than others. But even for those who aren’t overly skeptical, we can still see the problems of a private draw. To be even more specific, there are concerns that the organizers are able to insert American players in certain parts of the draw that would be deemed ‘easier’ than others. 

In doing so, this stimulates American interest in the US Open, and it also gives the home favorites a better chance of making a deep draw run. Yet to avoid all confusion, there is no proof that this has ever happened at the US Open.

Prevents fans from being part of the exciting process

While the two problems highlighted above are speculative, the third issue is undeniable. It’s an exciting event when the draw is made for any tournament, particularly Grand Slams. And for all of the other three slams, fans tune in in their thousands to watch the draw be made. Therefore, they feel part of the process, and it instantly connects them with the upcoming tournament. But for the 2023 US Open draw, this connection is completely blocked.


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