Latest news with #womensTennis
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
New Queen's tournament to offer equal prize money for women by 2029
The LTA has pledged to secure equal prize money for the new women's tennis tournament held at Queen's and the mixed event in Eastbourne by 2029 at the latest. Women's tennis will return to The Queen's Club in Baron's Court, London for the first time in more than 50 years next week in the form of a WTA 500 event, one week before the annual men's ATP 500 event at Queen's. The player list includes Madison Keys, Elena Rybakina, Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter. The women's prize pot will stand at US$1.415m (£843,705), the highest purse on offer at a WTA 500 event of its draw size on the tour this year. Despite the notable figure, the women's prize money is still around half of the offering for the ATP event, which currently stands at $2,882,544 (£2,124,031). At the WTA Eastbourne event, which has been downgraded to a WTA 250 event in order to make space for the new event at Queen's, the prize money will rise to $389,000 (£286,570), making it the highest paying WTA 250 event on the tour. However, the ATP event's offering of $865,000 (£637,221) is still considerably higher. The LTA has voluntarily added a total of £397,738 to its women's events this year compared to the minimum prize money required by the WTA. Grass court events are particularly expensive to run and, according to the LTA, the events it held in 2024 operated at a loss of £4m in 2024 despite the success of the ATP Queen's event. However, the organisation intends to gradually increase its prize money commitment to the WTA over time and it is hopeful that the Queen's WTA event will eventually become profitable. The WTA event in Queen's has had positive returns as the tournament nears. More than 80% of tickets have already been sold for the tournament. Part of the LTA's motivation for returning women's tennis to Queen's was for the tournament to appeal to a more diverse fanbase and 55% of ticket purchasers for the Queen's WTA 500 event have been female. 'We are making significant increases this year to the women's prize money at Queens and Eastbourne and want to achieve equal prize money as soon as possible,' said Scott Lloyd, the LTA CEO, in a statement. 'The LTA is committed to growing women's tennis, both at professional and grass-roots level and this move is an important part of that commitment.
New York Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
French Open accused of declining TV request to play Lois Boisson quarterfinal in night session
ROLAND GARROS, PARIS — The French Open has been accused of turning down a request from Amazon Prime to broadcast Loïs Boisson's fourth-round match against Jessica Pegula Monday in the primetime night session slot on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the biggest court at Roland Garros. The broadcaster has exclusive rights to the evening session of the tournament, and multiple people briefed on discussions between Amazon and the French Open have told The Athletic that the tournament declined to schedule Boisson's match against Pegula, which was played June 2, to start from 8:15 p.m. CEST. They spoke on condition of anonymity, to protect relationships in sports media and tennis. Advertisement The match was instead scheduled in the second daytime slot. It was played in front of swathes of empty seats in the early stages, despite Boisson winning and becoming the first home women's quarterfinalist here for eight years. The French Tennis Federation (FFT) declined to comment on the scheduling of the match. The scheduling of women's matches has been an ongoing debate at the tournament. For the second year in a row, there have been no women's matches in the coveted slot, which is billed as 'one great match' on the tournament's website. Women's matches have also opened play on Chatrier every day of the tournament, at a time when the stadium is at its most empty. The Roland Garros tournament director, Amélie Mauresmo, was asked about the night session during a heated press conference Saturday May 31. She said that the absence of women's matches was down to men's matches being five sets, and therefore offering evening spectators better value for money. 'It has never been that the girls are not worthy to play at night,' Mauresmo said. 'It's never been this, and I will not accept that you carry this message.' Earlier in the week, FFT president Gilles Moretton had said that scheduling decisions were based on 'what is better for spectators.' Mauresmo also denied that scheduling women's matches at a time when crowds are sparse sends a negative message to WTA players. But in the days following her news conference, a number of leading women's players, including Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula criticised the disparity, which has led to there being four women's matches in 55 night sessions since their introduction in 2021. Lindsay Davenport, a former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam singles champion, added her voice to the criticisms Wednesday. Davenport, who is covering the tournament for TNT Sports, told a few reporters that she 'would ask' Mauresmo about 'putting the women in the more high-profile slots.' Advertisement 'I've read her press conference, but I can't imagine that a former world No. 1 women's tennis player is doing that on her own. There has to be some kind of outside influence there, but hopefully as the years go hopefully we can start to work towards a solution,' Davenport said, adding that she has found the scheduling of women's matches in the morning most disappointed this year. The FFT did not respond to a request for comment on Davenport's statements. Patrick Mouratoglou, the former coach of Serena Williams who now works with Naomi Osaka, defended the disparity in a post on Instagram Monday, and said that day matches get more exposure than night matches because they are on national television. All television networks with rights to the event can make requests for the next day's schedule. They are taken into account by the tournament, but with no guarantee that they will be granted. TNT Sports which holds the U.S. rights, requested that Wednesday's match between Coco Gauff and Madison Keys not be scheduled in the first slot of the day, which is at 11 a.m. CEST French time (5 a.m. ET / 2 a.m. PT). The tournament ultimately scheduled Boisson's quarterfinal against Mirra Andreeva instead. The men's quarterfinals had to take the third daytime slot and the night session Wednesday, because the women's semifinals are on Thursday. The men's are not until Friday. Boisson is still in the tournament, after defeating Andreeva to reach the semifinals. Ranked No. 361, she is only the third player since 1980 to reach the semifinals in their first appearance at a Grand Slam, and the first Frenchwoman to get to the last four at the French Open since Marion Bartoli in 2011. She faces the American No. 2 seed Gauff Thursday for a place in the final. When they will be scheduled remains to be seen.
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Scheduling pleas 'like hitting head against wall'
French Open 2025Dates: 25 May-8 June Venue: Roland GarrosCoverage: Live radio commentaries across 5 Live Sport and BBC Sounds, plus live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website and app Jessica Pegula says she feels like she is "hitting her head against the wall" over the annual discussion around the lack of women's night matches at the French of the night sessions during the first eight days of this year's Roland Garros have featured a women's singles has led to accusations that not scheduling women's matches there implies female players are not "worthy" of the slot - something strongly rejected by French Open tournament director Amelie Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur said "honouring one side of the sport shouldn't mean ignoring the other" in an impassioned social media post on about the scheduling, American third seed Pegula said: "Every year it's the same thing. It's never equal."We are an event that is supposed to be equal. Why not give us some more chances to be?"It feels like just hitting my head against the wall because I feel like we have been talking about this for two, three, four [years] - probably forever, to be honest, because it's never been equal." Sunday will be the 22nd successive evening in Paris where a women's singles match is not featured - a run stretching back to 2023, when Aryna Sabalenka beat Sloane a news conference on Friday, Mauresmo said no women's players have complained directly to her about the former women's world number one added: "the message has never been the girls are not worthy of playing at night". Saturday's evening match - the slot most coveted for television audiences - sees men's Serb sixth seed Novak Djokovic face Austria's Filip Misolic, while Sunday night will see Holger Rune face Lorenzo Musetti."The women's game has been writing its own legacy loudly, brilliantly, and for far too long without too much recognition," Jabeur wrote on social media."The game is not asking to be seen. It is already shining."Pegula, who plays Frenchwoman Lois Boisson in the fourth round on Monday, said she supports Jabeur's message."I'm happy that she's able to speak up, and she's always been really good at wanting everything to be equal and fighting for not just where she's from, but also for women in general," Pegula added."I'm with her and I think we have proven that we deserve the same amount of opportunity."
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Flagrant sexism is spoiling the French Open
Ons Jabeur summed it up magnificently. 'Honouring one side of the sport shouldn't mean ignoring the other,' she wrote, holding nothing back as she weighed in on the sexist-scheduling debate that has reignited at the French Open. As one of the most well-respected players on the women's tour, Jabeur must have felt an excruciating sense of deja vu as she punched every last word into social media. This is not the first time the vociferous Tunisian has stuck her head above the parapet in calling for greater visibility in women's tennis, even if at times she has been something of a lone voice. But with this being the fourth year since night sessions were introduced at Roland Garros, others are joining her camp. Coco Gauff, whose quarter-final with Jabeur on the red dirt last year drew heavy criticism when it was condemned to an 11am graveyard slot, addressed the continued sidelining of women's tennis at Roland Garros earlier this week by saying it needed to 'improve'. Even four-time winner Iga Swiatek, who has previously been nonchalant about playing during the day, suggested the schedule should be 'equal'. 'Women's matches can be entertainment the same way [as men's matches],' said Swiatek following her 6-2, 7-5 third-round victory over Jaqueline Cristian. 'As you could see today on my match, they [the fans] were doing the Mexican waves and everything. So people like it,' Swiatek told reporters. 'We can put on a nice show. That's why I think it should be equal. That's it.' Amelie Mauresmo, the French Open director, is beginning to sound like a broken record. Under her watch, just two women's matches have been scheduled for the night session at Court Philippe-Chatrier since she became tournament director in 2022. Not a single women's match has been scheduled for the night session this year, while none were scheduled in 2024 either. This flagrant sexism is based on the flawed rationale that women's matches – by virtue of being played over three sets rather than five – lack quality, which risks broadcasters being left unsatisfied and fans not getting as much bang for their buck. It is staggering that this metric is still being applied to a sport that masquerades as being one of the most gender-equal. As Jabeur ruefully pointed out in her impassioned monologue: 'When a woman wins 6-0, 6-0 it's called boring. Too easy. When a man does it? That's 'dominance'. 'Strength.' 'Unstoppable.'.' Here is the entire back and forth between RG Tournament Director Amelie Mauresmo and Matt Futterman of the Athletic about not putting women's matches in the night sessions on Philippe Chatrier court. The exchange got very tense here & Mauresmo got very defensive. 🎥: FFT — TennisONE App (@TennisONEApp) May 31, 2025 Mauresmo was so frustrated by the persistent line of questioning by reporters over the subject on Friday that she cut an exasperated figure by the end of her press conference. 'That's not what we're saying,' she retorted, when it was put to her that women were not 'worthy' of prime-time evening slots. 'I have to stop you right there. For me, the message is not changing, and it has never been that the girls are not worthy to play at night. It's never been this.' But it is exactly this – and to dupe anyone into believing otherwise is to do a disservice to women's tennis. With organisers' penchant for scheduling men's matches at night, the message that women are not deserving of one of the biggest stages in sport is abundantly clear. The notion is that women's tennis does not carry the same entertainment value as men's. When this dangerous rhetoric trickles down through the sporting pyramid to grass-roots level, it is little wonder almost two thirds of girls drop out of sport by their late teens. Aryna Sabelenka's forehand was exceeding speeds of some men's players at last year's US Open, while the gripping unpredictability of the women's game and its constant merry-go-round of grand-slam champions in recent years is one of the sport's greatest appeals. From the rise of Gauff – last year crowned the best-paid female athlete in the world – to Jabeur's pluckiness on and off the court, Elena Rybakina's destructive shot-making and Swiatek's calm and calculated precision, women's tennis boasts a rich treasure trove of stories that make it more than worthy of the spotlight. By rejecting accusations that women's tennis is not deserving of playing under the lights on the main show court, Mauresmo is complicit in stifling its growth.
CNA
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNA
Swiatek wants equal treatment for women as French Open schedule remains in focus
PARIS :Amid criticism of the French Open's scheduling decisions, Iga Swiatek pointed to the Mexican waves rippling around Court Suzanne Lenglen during her compelling match against Jaqueline Cristian as evidence of women's tennis's entertainment value. The claycourt major features only one match daily during the primetime evening session that begins after 8.15 p.m. local time (1815 GMT), but has so far not featured a women's match in that slot in the opening six days of action. The last time a women's singles match was played under the lights of Court Philippe Chatrier was the fourth-round meeting between Aryna Sabalenka and Sloane Stephens on June 4, 2023. Defending women's champion Swiatek, who overcame Cristian of Romania 6-2 7-5, said she usually adjusts to the schedule she is given but added that it should be "equal". "Women's matches can be entertainment the same way (as men's matches). As you could see today on my match, they (fans) were doing the Mexican waves and everything. So people like it," Swiatek told reporters. "We can put on a nice show. That's why I think it should be equal. That's it." Women's governing body the WTA told Reuters via email it encourages all combined tournaments to provide a balanced match schedule that showcases the best of both women's and men's tennis in premium scheduling slots. Three-times Grand Slam runner-up Ons Jabeur reignited a debate that has raged since night sessions were introduced at Roland Garros four years ago, saying this week that women's matches were being sidelined. The Tunisian added in a post on X on Friday that "honouring one side of the sport shouldn't mean ignoring the other". Night sessions are exclusively broadcast by Amazon's Prime service in France. French Open tournament director Amelie Mauresmo said that women's matches, played over a maximum of three sets as opposed to the five on the men's side, could finish "really fast" and having an extra match in that slot was unfeasible. "If we have two matches in the night session it doesn't work in terms of how late players are going to finish," said Mauresmo in a press conference on Friday, explaining that earlier starts would not work as well. "The stands are going to be empty in most of the first match. That's what we think. So we keep this one match in the evening. It's not ideal. "We cannot check every box because we have many things to think when we're making these choices." Mauresmo, who won two Grand Slam singles titles, said that the French Open scheduling was not a reflection of its attitude towards women's players. "For me, the message is not changing, and it has never been that the girls are not worthy to play at night," she said.
