French Open: Amélie Mauresmo - "More attractiveness in the men's matches"
The women's games in the Roland Garros night sessions, which hardly take place, lead to ongoing discussions. Tournament director Amélie Mauresmo wants to change the general conditions in 2023.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit:
Jun 02, 2022, 05:36 pm
It's the first edition of the French Open that former world number one Amélie Mauresmo has taken on as tournament director, and so far she seems to have done quite well in the role inherited from Guy Forget. For example, Eurosport expert Barbara Schett of the neo-boss of the clay court Grand Slam tournament sprinkled roses in a comment: "So far she has done everything extremely well, it is always easy to complain or criticize from the outside."
The starting point, which has led to controversy among tennis women in recent days, is the schedule for the night sessions. Of the ten scheduled evening games, only one was a women's game. On Thursday of the first week of the tournament, Alizé Cornet and Jelena Ostapenko were allowed to grab their rackets under floodlights - all other new night matches were played among the men.
Improvements planned for the next edition
As our local man, Jens Huiber, noted last Wednesday , the night sessions are generally scheduled quite late. According to Mauresmo, however, it is difficult to get the fans to ask for high ticket prices for a women's game, which in the worst case does not even provide an hour of entertainment. The lower income from television advertising for the TV stations is not even mentioned.
"In this era that we are in right now, as a woman and a former tennis player, I feel neither bad nor unfair to say that we currently see more appeal in the men's matches," Mauresmo said at a press conference. "The fact that we can only schedule one match in the night session at the moment makes things really difficult." According to the two-time Grand Slam winner, this is the key problem that must be clarified by next year.