"It's ridiculous": Wilander slams Roland Garros scheduling amid lack of night matches for female players

Eurosport tennis analyst Mats Wilander offered his thoughts on the Roland Garros (French Open) scheduling controversy calling for more women's matches in the Night shift session.

A good start would be to have at least one of those but so far we haven't seen one as all the matches were ATP ones. The scheduling was defended by Mauresmo as she explained that generally, the perceived best match of the day gets the slot. Wilander's thoughts on all of that:

“I think that it's ridiculous to not have ladies matches at night. I mean, it's such an easy problem to solve. You throw in a French pair in mixed doubles where they play shorter matches, they don't play three sets, they play a tie breaker at one set all. I mean, you’ve just got to give them another hour of entertainment in case Iga Swiatek plays. The people here would love to support a French mixed team in doubles on centre court. I don't think that is the problem, I think there is another issue because the problem is very easily solved.”

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Swiatek declines Night Shift

Swiatek would be the top name who could play in that timeslot and while she wants WTA matches in that time slot, she's not willing to play herself as she always requests a day match:

“Obviously, it would be nice if we had women's matches as well, but as I said, I'm not kind of helping that because I always request a day session. There are players who like the hype and the energy, and maybe playing during the night because also of the conditions. But for me it's more comfortable to just have the normal day/night rhythm, and I kind of lost it after Madrid. So, in terms of regeneration, recovery, and just kind of being in a good rhythm and also keeping better mindset through the end of the tournament, I think it's more healthy for me to play day sessions. But I'll be also ready for night sessions. I already played many of them this year or last year.”

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