In the case of RG coverage on pulling the plug on ladies’s evening matches, Pegula mentioned protesting seems like banging your head in opposition to the wall.

“It seems like simply hitting my head in opposition to the wall as a result of I really feel like we’ve been speaking about this for 2, three, 4, in all probability perpetually, to be sincere, as a result of it is by no means been equal,” Pegula mentioned.

“I am completely happy that she’s capable of communicate up, and clearly she’s all the time been actually good at wanting every little thing to be equal and preventing for not simply the place she’s from, but additionally for girls basically.

“So, yeah, I am together with her, and I feel, once more, we’ve confirmed that we deserve the identical quantity of alternative.”

No ladies’s evening matches have been staged on Court docket Chatrier this 12 months or final 12 months with all 11 evening classes dedicated to males’s matches in 2024. In complete, two ladies’s matches have been staged at evening—in 2022 and 2023—elevating the query: Does Roland Garros deal with ladies as second-class residents?

Assembly the media on the primary Friday of the occasion, Event Director and former WTA world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo was confronted with the controversy. 

Mauresmo mentioned in the case of night classes “there’s nothing new beneath the solar” and defended match coverage for 2 main causes.

“As for the scheduling, night-session scheduling, nothing new beneath the solar as in comparison with the earlier editions,” Mauresmo advised the media in Paris. “We now have one single match per evening session. It hasn’t modified. Accordingly, we can’t change every little thing once more.

“The play time is also considered, potential play time, clearly as a result of we will not plan forward, be it for girls’s tennis or males’s tennis. However we’ve to take it into consideration as to the 15,000 spectator coming in for the evening session.

“Since males’s tennis is performed on the best-of-five units, three units shall be performed at a minimal. It is difficult for us to do in any other case.”

Corridor of Famer Mauresmo mentioned for the reason that match solely schedules one match at evening, beginning at 8:15 p.m. the choice comes down to 2 main elements:

1. Does the match function a star participant who can fill Court docket Philippe Chatrier stadium?

2. Will the match be compelling and the way lengthy will it final?

“We now have to take it into consideration as to the 15,000 spectators coming in for the evening session,” Mauresmo advised the media. “Since males’s tennis is performed on the best-of-five units, three units shall be performed at a minimal. It is difficult for us to do in any other case.”

Former French Open finalist Coco Gauff proposed a compromise resolution: Begin the evening session at 7 p.m. with a ladies’s match then play the boys’s match instantly afterward.

In fact, the may require condensing the day schedule on Chatrier to make sure the day session crowd may very well be cleared and night-session followers admitted for a proposed 7 p.m. begin.

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner was requested his response to the controversy at this time.

The reigning US Open and Australian Open champion mentioned the match may schedule two ladies’s matches for some evening classes.

“Girl’s, they’re best-of-three. In the event that they wish to put girl’s within the evening, they need to put a minimum of two matches, you already know, as a result of if somebody has a foul day and somebody an excellent day, the match is over in lower than an hour.,” Sinner mentioned. “They may play probably a few girl matches within the night. A person’s, to place two matches there, it is unimaginable, as a result of it will possibly go so lengthy otherwise you begin at 6:00 after which it is okay, but it surely’s too lengthy.

“However within the different means, once more, I am not making the schedule. , all I do know is that we nonetheless have the identical quantity of males’s and girl matches.”