French Open give WTA tennis the spotlight with first women's night match in three years
WTASunday, 31 May 2026 at 15:04
Often, a bone of contention when it comes to the French Open is the fact that the tournament has a female tournament director in Amelie Mauresmo, but they decide to snub the WTA side of the tournament for night games year after year, but after years without one, their hand has perhaps been forced for Monday night.
A titanic duel between Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka has been picked for the spotlight, which sees the current queen of women's tennis take on the former queen and fellow former World No.1 and multiple Grand Slam champion like Sabalenka at Roland Garros.
Perhaps too it will gleam the winner of the whole tournament with Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff both out, Elena Rybakina lost early so it has a bit of an interesting complexion where the winner in theory is in pole position for the title.
But also perhaps their hands have been forced due to the lack of real star power left in the men's tournament. Zverev and Ruud remain the leading lights and both have already headlined sessions previously. Missing Sinner, Alcaraz, and Djokovic means that the French Open perhaps now have to turn to the women's side of the game to deliver the star clashes, and what bigger really than Sabalenka v Osaka.
Osaka shrugged her shoulders at the potential night game
Ironically, the last night session game on the WTA side also featured a certain Sabalenka back in 2023, perhaps before she even reached her tennis peak, as he faced off against Sloane Stephens. She has never won Roland Garros, so this is perhaps her time, especially given that many of her main challengers are now gone. Osaka is perhaps the final bastion of that quest.
Osaka previously shrugged her shoulders at night matches, and given she has not played one at the French, and neither have many of the top WTA names, she didn't think it would be under consideration. "I'm so used to not playing night matches here and playing night matches in the US Open or something like that that I don't even associate this tournament with night matches."
Osaka will play at night despite not seeing it coming.
But something has also been a foot as of late with the WTA chair Valerie Camillo meeting with Mauresmo amid a lack of representation for women's matches with men's games picked with the quite lazy trope of due to them lasting longer, being more popular and filling seats for the ticket price. When with the big names mainly out of the men's event, it perhaps gives them time to pay to that theory or extinguish it fully.
Sabalenka vs Osaka is the night match on Monday.
— James Gray (@jamesgraysport) May 31, 2026
First time in three years that #RolandGarros organisers have put women in the Amazon Prime owned evening slot, 8.15pm start in Paris.
Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
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