That's another Australian Open consigned to the history books and, using every indicator that matters, it was one of the great ones.

Record crowds, massive TV ratings, quality of the tennis and even the length and finishing time of the men's finals - five hours and 25 minutes and 1.37am Monday for those keeping score.

"Good morning!" quipped Rafa Nadal as he accepted the runner-up trophy shortly before 2am this morning. And he was right; the witching hour had well and truly passed.

More than 700,000 people attended this year's Australian Open. On the middle Saturday, 85,000 people passed through the gates of Melbourne Park. That's a lot of people, even for the MCG that sits across the other side of the railway track.

Not for nothing are the Victorian Government and the Australian Open investing heavily in new spectator facilities on the eastern fringe of the facility because Melbourne Park is clearly bursting at the seams.

A feature of the Australian Open broadcast on Channel Seven, and indeed for the lead-up events over the fortnight preceding, is the promotion for the not just the tournament, but for the sport.

As with any media rights agreement, and the AFL is included in this, there is an element of contra, so that Tennis Australia can get some key messages across.

The sport has a four-week prime-time window in which to sell its wares, so it has to get things right.

But I'm not sure that a men's final - the pinnacle of the sport in this country - that finishes at 1.37am is in the best interests of tennis.

Granted, nobody was able to predict a final of such brilliance, drama and magnitude. Although once it was ordained that Nadal and Novak Djokovic were to meet in the final we knew we were likely in for a slugfest. That pair venture to the net about as often as Margaret Court does to Oxford Street.

But if Tennis Australia is battling, cricket, golf, swimming and of course, the various football codes for the hearts and minds of young Australian athletes, then a final that finishes close to 2am is in nobody's best interests.

Baseball in the US faced similar criticism that World Series matches were finishing too late into the evening and made steps to start the matches up to an hour earlier.

This is not advocating that the Australian Open final reverts back to the afternoon. It belongs in prime-time and the increased revenue that a final under the lights brings to tennis helps pays for things like a revamped Melbourne Park and more coaching and better facilities at the en-tout-cas courts just down the road from where you live.

But a 6.30pm start to the men's final would do no harm. The next Lleyton Hewitt - or better still, the next Novak Djokovic - might just choose tennis for good by watching the entire men's final and not falling asleep just as it gets interesting.

Tennis Australia and Channel Seven will make the compelling argument that with 2.2 million people still watching at match point, that the late finish didn't matter at all.

The question I'd like answered is, how many aspiring tennis players were among them?