Tennis, if you let the afternoon be long

The US Open is sporting news that still knows how to take a day. Late August in New York, a court that looks like a commercial, and matches that refuse to end on the network's schedule. That is the compliment. Football is about to take the remote. This is the last week the remote can belong to a rally.

As a broadcast, it is better when you stop treating it like a final you have to catch. The early rounds are the weather. The nights get louder. Score the coverage for letting tennis be long in a year that wants everything clipped. If a match goes three hours, that is the feature, not a scheduling error.

Put it on. Do not require a final. The afternoon is the product.