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The women's semi-finals have previously been played on Thursday
afternoon in the season's first major at the Melbourne Park
arena, with the men's matches split between the Thursday and
Friday night session.
Starting in 2022, the two women's semi-finals will be played
from 7.30pm (local time) on Thursday night at the Rod Laver
Arena with the men's semi-finals to be both played on Friday,
across a day and night session.
"As we celebrate 100 years of women's competition at what is now
the Australian Open, I'm delighted to further showcase the
women's game by scheduling the semi-finals in the prime time TV
spot of Thursday night," tournament director Craig Tiley said.
"Tennis is one of the very few global sports in which women and
men compete on the same stage, earn equal prize money and have
equal exposure.
"Although this is a source of pride, we recognise we can always
do more as we continue to strive for equality, inclusion and
diversity throughout the sport, both on and off the court."
The fixture change comes 12 years after the women's final was
moved to Saturday night in 2009.
The French Open, the Wimbledon and the U.S. Open majors hold the
women's semi-finals on Thursday followed by the men's matches on
Friday. The women's final is then played on Saturday with the
men's title match on Sunday.
Moving the men's semi-finals to the same day will also mean that
organisers will not have to face criticism about one of the
men's finalists getting an extra day's extra rest.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Lincoln
Feast.)
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