Linda Noskova was left confused by a tournament decision that came at the wrong moment in her quarterfinal against Aryna Sabalenka at the US Open. Officials started closing the retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium mid-match while Noskova was serving to stay in the match at 4-5 in the deciding set. Afterwards, in the press conference, Noskova confessed that she was thrown off by the incident. 

“I did notice the roof closing right after the point, although it started closing even before the point,” she said in her post-match press conference. “It was weird. No one even told us about it, I guess. We didn’t expect it at all. At the same time, I knew that the tournament wanted to keep us in the shade and not have us play on the light throughout the whole match. But ‌at the same time, it was a crucial point of the match, so I don’t know why they started moving it so late.”

She was not the only one to find the decision strange. Sky Sports’ broadcasting booth, featuring Martina Navratilova and Jonathan Overend, criticized the call live as it happened. 

“The roof is moving, and the effect it’s having on the shadow on the court, mid-rally there, surely has to be distracting?” Overend said, later questioning why officials could not have waited. “Why can’t they wait a game to do that? Sabalenka is gesturing as well.” 

Navratilova, while acknowledging the long-term benefit of getting the roof closed, agreed the timing was off. “They should have done it on the changeover at 4-3,” she said.

Linda Noskova held serve despite the distraction, eventually forcing a tenth game and eventually a deciding tie-break, but her resistance ran out there, with Sabalenka closing out a 7-6(1), 3-6, 7-6(7) win to reach a sixth straight US Open semifinal. 

The Czech had nothing but respect for the serve that ultimately settled the tiebreak in Sabalenka’s favor.

“She’s one of the best servers in the world, you know,” said Noskova. “Obviously, she wouldn’t be No. 1 if she wouldn’t have such a weapon, so it was not easy to return it.”

This was not the first time Arthur Ashe’s roof became a talking point during a match. Amanda Anisimova complained about struggling to see the ball while serving under the closed roof during last year’s final, also against Sabalenka, calling the lighting “literally, like white.” 

For now, the timing of the roof closure during the quarterfinals remains unanswered, and it is not a sight that fans would want to see again.