Roland Garros tournament director Amelie Mauresmo defends controversial scheduling: "There is no perfect solution here"

Friday, 02 June 2023 at 16:30

Roland Garros (French Open) tournament director Amelie Mauresmo has defended the controversial scheduling which saw all the premier time slots go to ATP matches.

This year's Roland Garros has been under fire for the same reason it was under fire last year. Once again it's the night shift scheduling with the premier time slot mostly going to ATP matches. A few players were asked about with most of them highlighting that exposure for WTA matches matters a lot yet we haven't seen a single one being put in that slot.

Last year director Mauresmo defended it by explaining that ATP matches simply garner more interest and she offered a very similar explanation to last year:

" Some people asked me before this edition, ‘So, are you going to do five men’s matches and five women’s matches (during the night sessions)?’ I don’t know. For me the priority in equality is definitely to have two women and two men on each court every day."

No perfect solution

Mauresmo further explained that there is no perfect solution with the thinking behind the selection mostly focused on picking the best match regardless of whether it's a men's or women's one:

We are a unique example of only one match scheduled in the evening, it makes it quite difficult to know in advance. It's a tough one. There is no perfect solution here. We have 15,000 people buying tickets for that match for 10 days so I’m really thinking about what would be the best match of the day. I cannot think at the moment differently on that. But other than that, I believe we are quite equal in pretty much everything that we do. "

So far we haven't seen one in that timeslot but perhaps with better matchups coming up in the later rounds we get to see one.

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2 Comments

BallBreaker 05 June 2023 at 15:02+ 65

Haha, Fair and French, are not a good combination. Of course, it's not fair but the chief of RG will never acknowledge that she's wrong.

WillMurphy3001 04 June 2023 at 10:04+ 1

All due respect Amelie (je t'aime!) but (and you know this already) the only way this will ever not be 'no right answer' is when women and men BOTH play best of 5 sets at Grand Slams. This has to happen. Otherwise Joe Punter will always pay for a potential men's 5-setter over a women's potential 3. The maths do not lie.

The male of the species may be stronger due to genetics but ALL the sexes have similar stamina. I remember Graf V Hingis end of season final - 5 sets, years ago. It was mad. It was brilliant. It completely was a different strategic proposition for les simples madames. And those watching it.

Want to make women's tennis more popular? Well Dar. Make it the same as the men's. In all ways. Equal prize money. Equal effort. Much increased drama (and bitchiness lol). Oh and promote mixed formats more and allocate more money to them. Hopman Cup come back! Bye ❤️

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Roland Garros tournament director Amelie Mauresmo defends controversial scheduling: "There is no perfect solution here"

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No perfect solution

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