For the fourth French Open in a row, event director Amélie Mauresmo was requested a few lack of ladies’s matches through the event’s night time classes — there was one in 2022, one in 2023, zero in 2024 and, as of Friday, zero in 2025.
And for the fourth French Open in a row, Mauresmo dismissed the difficulty, saying at a information convention Friday, when she additionally was pressed about inserting ladies’s matches within the midday slot at Court docket Philippe-Chatrier, when attendance tends to be sparse: “The humorous factor is that it’s the identical questions, yr after yr.”
On the different Grand Slam tennis tournaments that promote separate tickets for night time classes, the U.S. Open and Australian Open, the principle stadiums are likely to characteristic two singles matches for that a part of the day by day schedule, one involving ladies and one involving males. Wimbledon has an 11 p.m. cutoff for competitors and does not sells tickets for an evening session.
Roland-Garros added night time classes beginning three years in the past and the French federation has a contract with a streaming service for viewers within the dwelling nation that requires one day by day match in European primetime for the primary 1 1/2 weeks of the occasion.
Solely two of the 36 contests at night time in that stretch had been ladies’s matches.
Mauresmo, a former participant who was ranked No. 1 and received two Grand Slam titles, took over as event director forward of the 2022 event. She repeatedly has provided related explanations for why the night time match has nearly at all times been a males’s match, together with that their best-of-five-set format is more likely to provide extra time on courtroom for ticket-buyers than the best-of-three setup for girls.
Lately, some feminine gamers have argued that is a mistake and hurts the expansion of their sport, though Mauresmo stated Friday that no present or former athletes have complained to her about it or provided their ideas.
Ons Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, was requested concerning the matter this week and referred to as the present setup “a disgrace.”
“It’s nonetheless unhappy that we’re nonetheless seeing this,” Jabeur stated. “In Europe, on the whole, it’s unlucky for girls’s sports activities. … Not for tennis, however on the whole. … Whoever is making the choice, I don’t assume they’ve daughters, as a result of I don’t assume they wish to deal with their daughters like this.”
“It’s a bit ironic,” Jabeur added. “They don’t present ladies’s sport, they don’t present ladies’s tennis, after which they (say), ‘Largely, (followers) watch males.’ After all they watch males extra, since you present males extra.”
Iga Swiatek, the three-time defending champion in Paris, stated it does not hassle her.
“Yearly, we discuss it. My place didn’t change: I like taking part in days, so I’m completely happy that I’m achieved and I can have an extended relaxation,” she stated.
Mauresmo stated that having only one night time match hasn’t modified, “So for me, the message just isn’t altering, and has by no means been that the ladies should not worthy to play at night time.”
When a reporter tried to return to issues corresponding to night time matches and scheduling ladies first in Chatrier, asking Mauresmo how huge a deal she considers these issues, she replied: “You realize what? I want to change the topic.”
___
Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis author since 2002. Discover his tales right here: https://apnews.com/creator/howard-fendrich. Extra AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
#French #Open #night time #matches #concerned #ladies #Amélie #Mauresmo #cost
