The President of the Italian Tennis Association has strongly criticized the Lega Serie A for the chaotic scheduling of Week 37 matches. He stated, “We are not moving our final because some incompetent person drew up the fixture list carelessly.”
The situation has become truly absurd, as five games were initially scheduled for Sunday at 11:30 AM UK time (12:30 PM CEST). However, local authorities have ordered these matches to be postponed to Monday at 7:45 PM UK time (8:45 PM CEST).
Serie A Week 37: A Farce of Scheduling
The exact timing of these matches remains uncertain. The Lega Serie A’s emergency appeal to the TAR tribunal was dismissed, returning the decision-making to local authorities, who are holding a summit this evening to find a resolution. If an agreement is not reached, the TAR will issue its ruling on Friday, less than 48 hours before the five affected games are due to begin.
The matches in question are Roma-Lazio, Como-Parma, Genoa-Milan, Juventus-Fiorentina, and Pisa-Napoli.
Serie A had proposed postponing the start of the men’s singles final at the Italian Open to accommodate the Rome Derby. However, this suggestion was emphatically rejected.
“The supervisor of the ATP tour is present, and this tournament is organized differently from a football competition,” explained Federtennis President Angelo Binaghi. “They have the flexibility to change at any time, but we do not, due to other commitments. We cannot be expected to reschedule our final simply because some incompetent person drew up the fixture list carelessly.”
This scheduling conflict was, to some extent, predictable, as arranging the Rome Derby to coincide with the Italian Open was always likely to create difficulties. The situation was further exacerbated by the necessity to play numerous other matches simultaneously to maintain competitive fairness.
While the games could have been moved to Saturday, this was not feasible because Lazio was participating in the Coppa Italia Final against Inter on Wednesday evening.