"Some high-profile women's players are not really keen to go at night": Mauresmo responds to criticism surrounding Roland Garros Night Session

WTA
Monday, 12 June 2023 at 09:30
Mauresmo
Amelie Mauresmo explained why male matches have been prioritized in the Night Sessions of the French Open.
Former world No.1 is the director of Roland Garros since 2021, when she replaced Guy Forget. Mauresmo responded to the criticisms that the tournament has received regarding the Night Sessions, as this year the majority of the days favored men's matches.
During the first seven days, it was men's matches that occupied the Philippe Chatrier court in the main session of the day, a streak of days that ended with Aryna Sabalenka's victory over Sloane Stephens on Sunday, June 4. Several fans and players have criticized the decision, including Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, with the latter stating that women's matches are "undervalued."
"Definitely this, in my opinion, and we have numbers to support that, apart from the night sessions, that the prime slots were this time rebalancing also on what happened last year much more balanced between men and women, so that is something for us that is important definitely,” Mauresmo said.
"I hear that she's disappointed with that. I just also want to say that some of the high-profile players, that are women's players I'm talking about, that would be our choices to put in the night matches are not really keen to go at night and are having different requests," 2-time Grand slam champion said.
"We're not always listening to the requests, that's not what I'm saying, but we also try to arrange overall, whether they're men or woman player, we try to arrange everyone if we can. So just, I mean, I think you know that, because I saw some players also commenting on this matter. So this doesn't make also our life easier," Mauresmo added.
The former world No.1 argued that, except for the night sessions, there were more women's matches scheduled in prime time, representing progress compared to previous years. She also stated that scheduling two matches at night, considering the potential duration of men's matches, is not very feasible.
"My point is this year that we put definitely way more woman matches on the prime slots in 2023. It doesn't make it perfect yet, because of these night matches that are unique, that are only one matches, and that's where I come to the lens, and we talked about it last year also.”
"Because when you look at it, a men's match that goes in straight sets, it's still around probably between one hour 45, two hours, maybe a bit more, depends, and I think when you have only one match, it makes it difficult to, yeah, to schedule something else, in fact," she concluded.

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