Women are ‘worthy’ of French Open night sessions

Amelie Mauresmo, the director of the French Open tournament, has refuted claims that the tournament’s night session’s lack of women’s matches suggests that they are not “worthy” of the position.

All six of Roland Garros’ initial six-night sessions were men’s singles matches.

Ons Jabeur, a two-time Wimbledon champion, stated in a press conference earlier this week that the decision has an impact on the development of women’s sport.

No women’s players, according to Mauresmo, a former WTA world number one, have directly complained to her about the situation.

When questioned if she understood that some women didn’t feel “not worthy” of their matches, Mauresmo responded, “That’s not what we’re saying. Right there, I have to stop you.

The conditions have not changed for having one singular match in the evening, as I have always said and I will continue to say, for me.

In the Champions League final between Paris St-Germain and Inter Milan on Saturday, Mauresmo must decide which game will be played.

She claimed that, “The Champions League final won’t change us much.”

“We’re attempting to make the most of the tournament,” he said. Although we are organizing our own event, we are very pleased for PSG.

Only one singles match is played on Court Philippe Chatrier during the French Open night sessions, which started in 2021.

Since 2023, there hasn’t been a women’s singles match played over three sets in this primetime slot since 2023, making the previous 19 nighttime sessions men’s singles matches that were played over five sets.

Since they were introduced four years ago, the women’s draw has only included four games.

Every year, people ask whether the French Open should do more to promote the women’s game.

Mauresmo claims that the justification for making the decisions is that women’s matches may be going “very quickly.”

She said, “There is nothing new in this book compared to the previous ones.”

We only practice one match per night. It is unchanged. We won’t make any changes to anything.

The lens for me is “Two sets can go really quickly when you only have three sets.”

The women’s level is not currently attained by them. I’m not mentioning this.

Mauresmo added that the tournament does not want to play two nightscapades in the event of late-night matches like the US Open and Australian Open out of fear of putting together a late-night record.

As a result of the schedule’s success, she pointed to the full crowd at Thursday night’s game between French favorite Gael Monfils and British number one Jack Draper, which was played in front of a packed house until it ended at 23:45 local time.

She said, “If we have two matches in the night sessions, it doesn’t work in terms of how late the players will finish.

The stands will be empty for the majority of the first game, so we keep this one game in the evening.

At Friday’s news conference, Mauresmo expressed frustration with the inquiries regarding the lack of women’s nightclub games.

She quickly shut down another question toward the end of the half-hour event after responding to several others, saying she wanted to “change the subject.”

Mauresmo earlier made an attempt to get past the situation by implying that some women’s matches would be chosen in the upcoming days.

She said, “Maybe we talk about this on the final Sunday.”

Mauresmo hopes that the women’s draw will provide some intriguing nighttime matches.

We have some interesting rivalries, she continued, adding that Iga is “Swiatek,” Coco is “Gauff,” Aryna is Sabolenka, and Madison is “Keys.”

“I believe we are entering a very interesting era with intriguing characters and a very high level of play,” she said.