June 05, (THEWILL) – Tournament director, Amelie Mauresmo, has addressed the ongoing debate surrounding the absence of women’s matches during the night sessions at the French Open.
The first women’s match of the competition, featuring Aryna Sabalenka and Sloane Stephens, finally took place on Court Philippe-Chatrier as the late match, a week after the tournament began. The scheduling decision has sparked criticism, with some experts describing the situation as “ridiculous.” Indeed, Ons Jabeur, last year’s Wimbledon runner-up, also questioned why the French Open deviated from other Grand Slams by not featuring two night matches.
In an exclusive interview, Amelie Mauresmo, a two-time Grand Slam champion, discussed the selection process for the night sessions’ matches. “Ons [Jabeur] is right. The fact that we’ve only had one women’s match at night here makes it quite different to the US Open and Australian Open,” Mauresmo stated. “The choices aren’t easy to make and you have to take a lot of things into consideration. Tonight is the perfect match to promote women’s tennis, and I look forward to these girls giving us a big show and a big fight.”
Mauresmo further explained the challenges involved in accommodating two night matches. “There are a few things I wanted to avoid – I don’t think we can put five matches on Philippe-Chatrier in the whole day. So, it would mean we would have only two matches in the day and two in the evening for evening ticket holders, which would start at six or seven o’clock,” she elaborated. “I don’t think the crowd will be in their seats at seven o’clock. In Paris, people leave their work pretty late, so to have them seated at 7.30 in the stadium is quite a challenge, so we wanted to address that.”
As the discussion continues, the French Open organisers face mounting pressure to address the gender disparity in night session scheduling and find a solution that ensures equal representation and exciting matchups for both male and female players.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
