Even before the 2025 edition of US Open action kicked off earlier this week, weather reports didn’t paint a good picture. The first week of the slam in New York was expected to witness thunderstorms with temperatures around 25 to 27C. And guess what? The rain gods didn’t let the predictions fail either, as all of Wednesday’s qualifying matches were cancelled following only 45 minutes of play. But that hardly marked the end of the tournament’s woes. The recent case, however, is a different kind of anomaly amid the ongoing qualifying week ahead of the actual singles experience.

Going by the latest report, one of the qualifying matches on Thursday got suspended “due to issues with the court”. Speaking of the exact reason for the suspension, the X account @egdgeAI revealed that there was a “dent/hole” on the court. The encounter was about to kick off between Dutchman Jesper De Jong and France’s Harold Mayot.

Fortunately, the problem was resolved later as the match resumed between the two ATP pros. When it comes to the result, Jong beat Mayot with a score line of 7-6(13-11), 6-7(4-7),6-3. Jong will now play against America’s Mitchell Krueger in the last qualifying round. If the Dutchman wins this match as well (after registering two straight wins in the last two qualifying battles), he will successfully enter the US Open main draw. Hopefully, that would be without any interruptions.

And while the dent in the court certainly was an inconvenience, an argument can be made that it pales in comparison to what’s already happened during the American hard court tournament in the past. Remember how several key matches were suspended during last season’s edition due to an ‘alarming’ situation?

When the US Open was disrupted by a fire alarm

Last September, a fire alarm sounded at 3 pm local time in one of the buildings where the technical booth of the Hawk-Eye system was located. As a result, match officials weren’t able to use the technology on court. The incident took place amidst a crucial encounter between Russian ATP icon and former US Open winner Daniil Medvedev and Nuno Borges. They were playing at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Undoubtedly, the two players were left clueless after the play was suspended. “Ladies and gentlemen, due to a technical difficulty with the line-calling system, we have paused the match,” the fans in the stands were informed regarding the issue.

But it wasn’t just the Medvedev-Borges match that was stopped. Another battle between Caroline Wozniacki and Beatriz Haddad Maia, at the Louis Armstrong Stadium, also had to be paused. The team operating the Hawk-Eye system also had to evacuate the technical booth. Thankfully, no damage was done as it was not a case of an actual fire breaking out. “Following the determination that it was only an alarm, play was resumed,” the USTA clarified in a short statement. Following the resumption, Medvedev, who had already been leading before the disruption, won his match with a scoreline of 6-0, 6-1, 6-3, while Haddad Maia beat Wozniacki 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

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