Roland Garros: Eureka! The first night session for women!
With Aryna Sabalenka and Sloane Stephens, two women have now been awarded a Nights Session in Roland Garros 2023 for the first time.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jun 04, 2023, 01:24 am
Last year, Alizé Cornet and Jelena Ostapenko were the only women allowed to work under the night sky on the Court Philippe-Chatrier. This was controversial before and after, but of course also has a pretty practical explanation: In men's matches, the fans who have filled the stands to the last seat for big money in the last few days are guaranteed at least a third set.
So now it has hit Aryna Sabalenka and Sloane Stephens, one of the top favorites against the 2018 finalist. This could be an exciting affair, Stephens often plays very well in Paris in general, especially this year. However, it cannot be ruled out that Sabalenka will simply go for every ball and simply roll over Stephens. Just like Iga Swiatek on Saturday afternoon Xinyu Wang in the first set, which took a whopping 25 minutes.
Will the customers go home happy?
Not quite as long nights as in New York or Melbourne
Of course, to be fair, one has to say that there were only two night sessions for the men, too, which really got the fans going. That was Gael Monfils against Sebastian Baez. Funnily enough, that session was by far the worst attended. Last night Zverev's hut was full against Tiafoe, the fans could have used a fifth set.
Jannik Sinner (against Alexandre Muller), Novak Djokovic (against Marton Fucsovics), Alexander Zverev (against Alex Molcan) and Carlos Alcaraz (against Denis Shapovalov) offered the spectators good tennis - the smooth three-set successes were also applauded respectfully. The viewers would have wished for a little more excitement.
Gauff - Actually nobody wants to play in the evening
The problem lies - in contrast to the approach used at the Australian Open and the US Open - but in the programming: only one match is played. And that starts at 8:15 p.m. Men and women have their rights in Flushing Medadows and Melbourne. From 7 p.m. local time. Which doesn't preclude players from sleeping too much at night. The probability of this in Roland Garros is lower than in New York, for example.
By the way, when asked about the situation on Saturday, Coco Gauff said that nobody in player circles would bother actually playing in the evening. So maybe you're even doing something good for women if you leave them out.
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