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Daily Mail
3 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Lopsided scheduling at Roland Garros remains depressingly familiar, writes MATTHEW LAMBWELL, the truth is the French Open's night session is a flawed concept to begin with
Deja vu, plus ca change - pick your local phrase but whichever way you slice it, the French Open 's lopsided scheduling remains depressingly familiar. After seven days of the tournament, every prime-time night session match has been a men's singles. The first match on Philippe Chatrier - when it's always half-empty because the locals are having lunch - has been a women's singles every day. Amelie Mauresmo did her usual mid-tournament press conference and was taken to task once again. 'The same questions year after another,' said the 45-year-old. 'Same answers,' replied her interrogator. Quite. 'We have to take it into consideration the 15,000 spectators coming in for the night session,' said Mauresmo. 'Since men's tennis is played at the best-of-five sets, three sets will be played at a minimum. It's complicated for us to do otherwise.' To sum up her position: when there is only one match in the night session, we will always go for a men's match because that guarantees the punters a minimum of three sets, rather than two. Why can't you have two matches, a men's and a women's? Because then the night session would finish too late. Why can't you start it earlier? Because people wouldn't be able to get there in time after leaving work, so the stands would be empty for the first match. It is not easy to argue with any of her reasoning, but that does not make the end result any more palatable. The truth is, the Roland Garros night session is a flawed concept to begin with. The contract with Amazon Prime Video - shaving off that one match per day from the main domestic TV deal - should never have been signed. It is a cash grab - both for TV rights and the ability to fleece fans by selling two separate tickets for one day of action. Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam remaining without a night session - and we can thank Wandsworth council's 11pm curfew for that. But in Melbourne and New York they always have two evening matches - one men's, one women's. If you can't do that, they don't have a night session – this event managed just fine for 120 years without one. It's too bloody cold in Paris in May for watching tennis at midnight, anyway – remember all the fans tucked up in blankets for Nadal v Djokovic in 2022? Mauresmo's lack of empathy and awareness on this issue is staggering. How can a former WTA star fail to understand - or acknowledge - the importance of visibility and platforming for the women's game? Women's tennis in France is going to the dogs – they have no one in the world's top 70. How are Mauresmo and Co going to change that when little girls come home from school, watch their national tournament and are greeted by a female-free zone?
Telegraph
4 days ago
- General
- Telegraph
French Open row erupts over claims women's tennis is being undermined
Meanwhile, the Women's Tennis Association put out a statement calling for 'a balanced match schedule that showcases the best of both women's and men's tennis – and in premium scheduling slots'. But Amélie Mauresmo, the former Wimbledon champion who is now the French Open's tournament director, remains implacably opposed to the idea of women in the night slot. In a press briefing on Friday morning, she put the policy down to the difference between best-of-three set matches – the format used in the women's draw – and the best-of-five-set contests played by the men. Mauresmo said: 'The play time also is taken into consideration, potential play time, obviously because we can't plan ahead, be it for women's tennis or men's tennis. But we have to take it into consideration as to the 15,000 spectators coming in for the night session.' When asked whether this scheduling approach transmits the impression that women are not worthy of being promoted, Mauresmo bridled and replied: 'That's not what we're saying. I have to stop you right there. For me, the message that I always said, and I will repeat, is the conditions have not changed of having one unique match in the evening. The message has never been the girls are not worthy of playing at night. It's never been this.' 'We are being told that no one watches, that no one cares' And yet, the preferential treatment for men extends through the whole day at Roland Garros. The tournament pays lip service to the idea of a balanced number of men's and women's matches on the big stadium courts, but invariably schedules the women in the lower-profile opening slots – either at 12 noon on Chatrier or 11am on the other two roofed arenas of Court Suzanne-Lenglen and Court Simonne-Mathieu. These are the quietest times to play, because the crowds at Roland Garros tend to build during the day. And while there may be a chicken-and-egg aspect to this debate – with tournament organisers using low attendances to justify unfavourable scheduling – Jabeur pointed out that such perceptions are self-reinforcing. 'A lot of amazing athletes have been told the same things over and over,' she added. 'That no one watches. That no one cares. That women's sport doesn't 'move people'. 'Judgment comes quickly, often from those who've never even watched a full match. One empty stadium is held up as proof. The packed ones? Conveniently ignored. A missed shot becomes a headline. The hundreds of brilliant ones? Forgotten.' The French Open is in a unique position among the four slams, because it is the only one that schedules a daily night session with just a single match. In Melbourne and New York, there will be two singles matches played, split between women and men. At Wimbledon, there is no night session at all.
